Drugs & Alcohol: Black Worker Required to Acknowledge Safety-Sensitive Status Claims Racism

An oil worker claimed that his supervisor was racist and that Suncor demanded he sign a letter acknowledging that his position was safety-sensitive and thus subject to random drug testing, just because he was black. Suncor denied the allegations, contending that all safety-sensitive personnel had to sign the letter. The Alberta Human Rights Commission found no evidence of racial profiling and tossed the complaint. While expressing its wish that the Commission had offered more explanation of why it pooh-poohed the worker’s claim that 15 safety-sensitive co-workers who were white didn’t sign the letter, the appeals court found the decision reasonable and refused to overturn it [Wint v Alberta (Human Rights Commission), 2022 ABQB 87 (CanLII), January 31, 2022].