FEATURE
“That’s the crux of the problem with marijuana
being legalized. It’s a legal substance now
and the worker is potentially doing it on
his or her own time. How does a company
keep the workplace safe but respect
worker privacy at the same time?”
– Randal Roberts, CEO, Safety Scan Technologies
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“If it’s a ‘refer,’ this is where each company’s
human resources policy kicks in,”
Roberts said. “Whatever policy they have
developed to deal with that is what we suggest
they use with our system. And the great
benefit with our system is that it is objective.
It’s not judgemental and it doesn’t indicate
what might be the reason for the
impairment. It will flag an impairment, but
it doesn’t identify what you might be impaired
from.”
Though Roberts says in most cases of a
refer test, a company’s next step is likely a
drug test. But random drug tests have not
been found to be acceptable unless there
has been an accident, incident or there’s a
reasonable cause.
Look no further than the saga at Suncor,
which has been taken to the Supreme Court
of Canada. Suncor and the local union have
been fighting over random drug testing
since the company introduced it in 2012.
The union has argued the practice is degrading
and violates the rights and privacy
of workers.
Suncor argued there are drug and safety
issues at its oilsands sites in northern
Alberta, and that random testing is
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a suitable deterrence. Two appeal judges
agreed there was a safety issue but said random
testing would reach no more than 104
employees per month.
Marijuana is one of the most common
recreational drugs, and it may become even
more popular once it is legalized in Canada.
That’s when the lines of worker privacy and
employer rights may become hazy.
It’s no secret that marijuana is used in a
variety of therapeutic means – it reduces
pain in muscles and joints, helps with nausea
in chemotherapy treatments and improves
sleep, among others.
“When it becomes legal, we might not
have a huge spike of people showing up to
work impaired, but there might be a shift
in societal expectation of cannabis use,” explained
Jon Danyliw, an associate for Miller
Thomson law firm in Saskatoon.
Companies are encouraged to update or
implement their policies related to this issue.
Difficult conversations may arise between employer
and employee over the use of marijuana.
“It’s the employee’s wellbeing and safety
that’s important here,” said Danyliw.
“It’s not to find ways to punish employees,
though discipline may result.”
thinkbigmagazine.ca | Quarter 3 2018 | Think BIG 25
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