OK to Require Medical Exam of Marijuana User’s Fitness for Safety-Sensitive Job
An energy company required safety-sensitive workers to pass pre-assignment drug testing before letting them work at the refinery. The company learned that a journeyman electrician the union sent to the […]
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OK to Fire Safety-Sensitive Worker for Not Being Fit for Duty
A safety-sensitive tree utility worker got fired for flunking his drug test. The Nova Scotia labour standards officer found that there was no just cause to terminate, but the employer […]
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Potential Suicide Risks Grounds for Workers Comp Not to Pay for Medical Pot
Does workers comp have to pay for medical marijuana legally prescribed to treat a former prison guard’s work-related post-traumatic stress disordered? After ping-ponging around the workers comp appeals tribunals, a […]
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No Security Clearance for Employee Involved in Drug Trafficking Incident
During a 2016 traffic stop search, agents found a WestJet employee to be in possession of 164 grams of marijuana. The employee was charged with drug trafficking. And even though […]
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Ontario Case Draws New Line on Power of Arbitrator to Review Drug Testing Policies
Arbitrator declines union’s bid to overturn nuclear power plant testing policy based on federal regulations. Labour arbitration boards have served as the primary battlefield in the decades-long war between employers and […]
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Bar Owner Fined $50,000 for Customer’s Drunk Driving
Video camera footage clearly showed that the customer served 5 20-ounce beers in the course of an hour was already visibly drunk when he entered the bar. So, when the […]
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Firing Union Nurse for Alcohol Addiction Is a Labour, Not a Human Rights Case
A case that has drawn national attention has now gone all the way to the nation’s highest court. It began when a home care aide came to work drunk. She […]
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Scorecard of the Key Workplace Drugs & Alcohol Cases Decided Since Marijuana Legalization
Using actual court cases to evaluate whether your workplace testing policies are legally sound. It’s been 3 years since Canada officially legalized recreational cannabis on October 17, 2018. Of course, while […]
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How to Create a Legally Enforceable Workplace Drugs & Alcohol Testing Policy
The 12 things every testing policy must include. It’s hard to enforce a workplace drugs and alcohol policy without a meaningful testing process. But testing is also a lightning rod for […]
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Drugs/Alcohol Testing Policy Checklist
PROBLEM: One of the biggest challenges is developing a fair, tough drug and alcohol testing policy that balances the organization’s need to protect safety with employees’ rights under privacy and discrimination […]
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Workplace Drugs & Alcohol Cases Scorecard, 2020 to 2021
Employers continue to lose more drug test cases than they win. October 17, 2021 marks the third anniversary of legalized recreational cannabis in Canada. Slowly but surely, courts, arbitrators and labour […]
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Workplace Impairment Removal Policy
Establish your right to send workers home if they're drunk or high. Here’s a template of a policy providing for the immediate removal of workers who are impaired by drugs, alcohol […]
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Substance Abuse Red Flags Checklist
Workers aren't likely to disclose their own substance abuse problems. The first step in helping and making accommodations for workers with substance abuse problems is knowing about those problems. Ideally, workers […]
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3 Years After the Legalization of Marijuana in Canada: An OHS Compliance Update
It’s been nearly 3 years since Canada legalized recreational marihuana use. Since 2018, a new “legal” industry has emerged, tax revenues have grown - though not nearly at the pace […]
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Your Right to Immediately Remove Workers Impaired by Drugs or Alcohol
Keeping drunk and high workers out of the workplace to prevent danger. It goes without saying that being drunk or high on the job is a significant safety risk, especially when […]
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Requiring Disclosure of Legal Drugs Allowed Only for Safety-Sensitive Workers
A Crown corporation in Québec adopted a policy requiring dockworkers to disclose their use of medical marijuana or other legally prescribed medications that could potentially impair them at work. The […]
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Failing to Disclose Medical Marijuana Use Doesn’t Cost Worker His Job
A welder on a last-chance agreement and subject to random testing knew that ingesting medical marijuana might cause him to flunk his drug test. But since the pot was legally […]
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Nuclear Plants Can’t Do Random Drug Testing Until Privacy Issues Are Resolved
After 10 years of study, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued a regulation requiring nuclear power plants to perform random alcohol and drug testing on safety-sensitive workers. As expected, when […]
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Positive Urine + Negative Oral Swab Test Don’t Prove Marijuana Impairment
A federal arbitrator reinstated a railway worker who was fired after testing positive for marijuana. The hi-rail truck derailment incident in which he was involved wasn’t reasonable cause for drug […]
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Does Legalized Marijuana Provide More Leeway for Random Drug Testing?
The union contended that unannounced random urine drug testing of safety-sensitive public airport workers, in this case a firefighter, was an undue invasion of privacy. While acknowledging that case law […]
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The Most Important OHS Compliance Cases of 2021 (So Far)
Although COVID-19 continues to command the attention of OHS regulators, courts across Canada have also issued a number of significant non-pandemic OHS compliance rulings in the first 6 months of […]
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Avetta presents: Opioids/Cannabis Workplace Drug Testing – What Should Employers Know?
The opioid crisis has escalated dramatically in the past decade across the country, and those affected may also be your employees. At the same time, the marijuana legalization movement has […]
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Avetta presents: Substance Abuse and the Construction Site
Substance abuse is not new within the construction industry. Opioid abuse and legalized marijuana (medicinal or recreational use), however, are increasing dramatically. As a result, construction employers now face additional […]
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Positive Marijuana Test Doesn’t Prove Worker Was Impaired at Time of Accident
A machine operator subjected to post-incident testing after backing his Cat Loader into a pole, tested positive for THC, the ingredient in marijuana that causes impairment. As a result, he […]
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Marijuana in the Workplace
Recorded Date: June 23, 2021 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM PDT Speaker: John Batzel Recording To access the recording of this webinar, please go here. As a member of OHS Insider, use discount code OHSIVIP21 to […]
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Near Miss Is Justification for Post-Incident Drug Testing
After a Self-Propelled Modular Transporter (SPMT) collided with a set of scaffold stairs erected at the end of the dock against a barge, the manager at the site ordered the […]
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Firing Alcoholic Employee for Coming to Work Is Disability Discrimination
What would you do if one of your employees showed up late to work intoxicated by alcohol and prescription drugs, interrupted a staff meeting and belligerently cussed out his boss […]
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Drugs and Alcohol Quiz
QUESTION What are the three main problems / issues caused by alcohol and drug abuse on the job? ANSWER Fatalities and accidents Absenteeism Loss of production WHY IS IT RIGHT DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE Drug […]
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Circumstantial Evidence Enough to Prove Worker Smoked Pot at Work
If you don’t think drug testing is important for enforcing a substance abuse policy, consider this case involving a grocery worker accused of smoking pot in a meat freezer while […]
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Just What Were Those Workers in the Parking Lot Smoking While on Break?
A 30-second video shot on a digital camera clearly showed that the 2 workers were smoking something in the furniture plant parking lot while on break. The workers claimed it […]
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