Deputy ombudsman says secret workplace PEth tests are unlawful

Conducting a PEth alcohol test on an employee without their consent is unlawful, according to a recent decision by Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman Susanna Lindroos-Hovinen, Yle reports.

A PEth test measures how frequently a person has consumed alcohol recently. Long-term or heavy alcohol use can remain visible in test results for up to four weeks after drinking.

The deputy ombudsman said the test interferes with privacy in an exceptional way because it can reveal drinking during an employee’s free time, rather than whether the person is intoxicated at the time of testing.

She also noted that alcohol consumption is legal in Finland and generally accepted as part of the country’s culture.

“If an employee is to be required to undergo a test measuring alcohol consumption, this must be regulated by law,” Lindroos-Hovinen said in her decision.

For now, a PEth test may be conducted only if the employee has been clearly told that testing will take place, what kind of test it is and what the testing is based on. The test can then be carried out if the employee gives their consent.

The decision concerns a case in which an employee of the rescue department of the Western Uusimaa wellbeing services county was given a PEth test without their knowledge.

PEth tests are increasingly being used in working life, and employees are sometimes tested without being asked, Riitta Työläjärvi, an expert physician at the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, and Ida Nummelin, a health policy specialist at the Finnish Confederation for Professionals, told Yle in May.