Wyoming Drug Testing Laws for Employers

No Testing Code, No Cannabis Law

A full-text review of W.S. Title 27, covering labor and employment, located drug- and alcohol-related language in exactly three places: the exclusion of intoxication- and controlled-substance-caused injuries from the definition of a compensable injury; the premium discount provision; and the general unemployment definition of misconduct connected with work. None of them is a testing code.

There is likewise no cannabis statute to design around. Wyoming has created neither a medical nor a recreational program. Marihuana is a Schedule I controlled substance, and W.S. 35-7-1031(c) provides that notwithstanding any other provision, no practitioner shall dispense or prescribe marihuana, THC, or synthetic equivalents, and no prescription or practitioner's order for those substances is valid unless it is for a drug with final approval from the FDA, including dronabinol.

The practical consequence for a large employer: Wyoming imposes no limit on panel composition, cutoff levels, metabolite-based adverse action, safety-sensitive designation or discipline following a confirmed THC positive — and no accommodation obligation for a cardholder from another state, because Wyoming recognizes no such status.

The Discount, and Where It Actually Lives

Wyoming runs a state-fund monopoly system administered by the Workers' Compensation Division. W.S. 27-14-201(o) directs the division, in accordance with its rules and regulations, to grant a discount to rates in an amount not to exceed ten percent of the base rate for the employment classification where the employer complies with a drug and alcohol testing program approved by the division.

Two further discounts of up to ten percent each sit alongside it on the same terms: one for compliance with a division-approved safety program, one for compliance with the health and safety consultation program developed by the Department of Workforce Services in consultation with the Occupational Health and Safety Commission. The subsection caps the total at thirty percent of the base rate, and the consultation discount remains in effect only for three years after the employer is certified compliant with that program's recommendations.

In determining approval and the total discount, the division must consider the probability the program will reduce accidents and the probable savings; relevant experience showing actual reduction in accidents and actual savings against an industry standard; and the adequacy and accuracy of the employer's reporting. It must also consider whether the employer adopts and enforces drug-free workplace policies, which may include an employee assistance program. One limit worth knowing: rules under that paragraph may not require an employer to pay treatment or other intervention costs.

Here is the honest caveat. The statute does not specify what an approved program must contain, and neither the specifications nor the discount actually granted are fixed by the code — both are set by division rule. We did not retrieve those rules, so this page cannot tell you what qualifies. If the discount is part of your business case, that is a conversation with the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services before you build.

The same is true of a related question. Whether a random component is required, permitted or simply irrelevant to approval is a matter of division rules rather than statute.

The Compensation Exclusion, Also Defined by Rule

W.S. 27-14-102(a)(xi)(B)(I) excludes from the definition of injury any injury caused by the employee being intoxicated or under the influence of a controlled substance. Prescribed drugs taken as directed by an authorized health care provider are excepted from that exclusion.

But the operative terms — intoxicated, and under the influence of a controlled substance — are likewise defined by division rules rather than by the statute. So the threshold that decides whether the exclusion applies is not something you can read off the code.

Note also what Wyoming does not give you: no statutory post-accident testing authority, no testing presumption and no refusal-forfeiture provision. Unlike North Dakota, the statute supplies no procedural leverage after an accident. Your own policy has to do that work.

Two Things to Do

1. Call the division before building to the discount. The specifications live in their rules, and a program designed against a national template may or may not qualify. This is a short conversation that decides a ten percent line item.
2. Write the post-accident authority into your policy, because the statute does not provide it. Wyoming will not compel a test for you or penalize a refusal on your behalf.

Where This Lands

Wyoming's employment base is concentrated in oil, gas, coal and trona extraction, utilities and power generation, construction, trucking and freight, tourism and outdoor recreation, and healthcare. Extraction and utilities carry both high base rates and high injury exposure, which is exactly the combination that makes a stackable thirty percent worth pursuing properly rather than approximately.