Derechos fundamentales de los trabajadores en relación con el despido con justa causa por estado de embriaguez

This reflection paper describes a perspective of the Colombian labor reality in situations where employees show up to work drunk. The goal is to analyze the extent of blood alcohol testing in order to establish the legal grounds of dismissal with just cause, applying descriptive methodology to the current status of this test as regards intoxication as a just cause for dismissal. For this purpose, a hermeneutic study of the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Justice was conducted, reflecting on the vulnerability of the fundamental rights of workers when their employers require blood alcohol level testing. It is concluded that, although companies are free to choose the mechanisms they use to detect whether an employee is drunk in order to justify termination for just cause, employers must demonstrate the negative impact of alcohol consumption on the fulfillment of their obligations