We have been dealing with bad air quality this week in Calgary. I thought I would take some time and tell you that our Union won an arbitration, that deals with another type of smoke. I am hoping to print the document online for your reading pleasure. This has taken us many years to wade through, and the employee had to deal with much of this in a labourer capacity. I am glad to see it resolved and I am even happier that in this case we won.
The case dealt with a worker in Roads that was prescribed medical weed for treatment of pain. While he did not hide his use, HR took steps years ago to remove him from what they described as a safety sensitive positions and treat the Federal legal prescription with a Municipal policy contradiction.
While we are still in talks over compensation throughout this process, the scenario is important because historically the Corporation has relied on the Substance Use Policy as a heavy handed vehicle to not only remove users from substance uses issues by sending them to addiction facilities, but it also dealt with the potential litigation and tuff mitigations required when employees were potentially in safety sensitive positions operate equipment where legally the corporation could be exposed.
The meat of this situation is important, so if I can publish or link to the decision I will.
