SAP Evaluation vs. Return-to-Duty Test
These get mixed up in almost every first phone call, so here's the difference in plain terms.
The SAP evaluation
A clinical interview with a qualified Substance Abuse Professional. No specimen is collected. It produces a recommendation and, later, a compliance determination. You arrange and pay for it.
The return-to-duty test
A drug or alcohol test, collected under direct observation, arranged by your employer after the SAP reports successful compliance. It produces a result, not a recommendation.
Order matters
The test cannot legitimately happen before the SAP reports compliance. If someone offers you a return-to-duty test first, something is wrong with the process.
Follow-up tests are a third thing
After you return to work, unannounced follow-up tests continue under the plan the SAP wrote — at least six in the first 12 months.
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