Feb 2: Testing Policies at Work: Drugs, Alcohol & COVID-19
Date: February 2, 2022 Time: 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM PST Speaker: Preston Parsons Register Here to register for this webinar. This session will look at the current state of the law around testing your workers […]
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OK to Apply Zero-Tolerance Policy to Legal Use of Medical Marijuana
An air ambulance provider unilaterally adopted a zero-tolerance policy for cannabis use by safety-sensitive employees. What irked the union wasn’t so much the policy itself, but the employer’s insistence on […]
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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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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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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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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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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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Failing to Disclose Medical Marijuana Use Doesn’t Cost Employee 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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Positive Urine and 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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Legal Drug Disclosure Policy Is Enforceable for Safety-Sensitive Workers Only
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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Substance Abuse Red Flags Checklist
The first step in helping and making accommodations for workers with substance abuse problems is knowing about those problems. Ideally, workers will self-disclose their problems voluntarily. Regrettably, though, people with […]
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Workplace Impairment Removal Policy
Here’s a template of a policy providing for the immediate removal of workers who are impaired by drugs, alcohol or other substances, based on a model published by the Northwest […]
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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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Workplace Drugs & Alcohol Cases Scorecard, 2020 to 2021
Employers continue to lose drug test cases more often than they win them. October 17, 2021 marks the third anniversary of legalized recreational cannabis in Canada. Slowly but surely, courts, arbitrators […]
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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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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 10 Most Important HR Compliance Cases of 2021 (So Far)
Key cases focused on COVID as well as drug testing, discrimination and other perennial HR issues. Halfway through 2021, courts across Canada have issued a number of extremely important case rulings […]
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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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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 HRIVIP21 to […]
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Employer Must Try to Accommodate Safety-Sensitive Worker’s Alcoholism
After nearly 16 years of excellent performance, a millwright found himself on the wrong end of progressive disciplinary actions for lateness, harassing a colleague and other offences, culminating in his […]
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Unsupported Suspicions Not Enough to Require Post-Incident Drug Testing
A safety-sensitive refinery worker was the prime suspect for inflicting roughly $1,100 worth of bumper damage to a truck he admitted to commandeering for personal use during his shift. As […]
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Truck Driver Fired for Not Disclosing Medical Marijuana Use
Why did the concrete trucking company fire a safety-sensitive driver who legally used medical marijuana? The driver claimed he disclosed his marijuana use before undergoing post-incident testing and got fired […]
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10 HR Policies You Should Audit Right Now
HR laws are changing fast--ensure your key policies are up to date and legally sound. The pandemic may have distracted attention from key employment law and societal changes taking place in […]
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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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The 7 Most Immediate HR Compliance Challenges of 2021
During the COVID crisis, legal slip-ups can get your business shut down. As the misery of 2020 winds down, HR directors need to start looking ahead to 2021. Of course, complying […]
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Don’t Forget to Include Vaping in Your Workplace Smoking Policy
Employee busted for vaping collects $15,000 due to unclear policy. No Smoking Policy ABC Company is committed to maintaining a completely smoke-free workplace and does not permit smoking in any part of […]
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Cannabis in the Workplace: 2 Years Later
Date: October 21, 2020 Presenter: Norm Keith, Partner at Fasken Download the Slides Below About the Webinar It has been 2 years since the legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada, and it is time […]
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Is a Positive Drug Test Grounds to Discipline Safety-Sensitive Employees?
No, because testing positive for marijuana doesn’t prove a worker was high on the job. While marijuana may be legal, being high at work is still grounds for discipline and even […]
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