It was reported today that a Court of Queen’s Bench judge has quashed a 2014 arbitration panel ruling that determined the proposed random testing plan would violate the privacy of union workers. The full story can be found here.

In June of 2012, Suncor announced that they would be adding a random drug and alcohol testing standard applicable to their Oil Sands Operations in the Wood Buffalo Municipality for employees in safety-sensitive positions. Consequently, Unifor grieved Suncor’s implementation of the random testing standard. In March 2014, an arbitration panel ruled in favor of Unifor.

Today’s decision says a new arbitration panel should review the company’s random testing plan, while considering evidence about alcohol and drug incidents involving all workers at Suncor.

This is an interesting development for the safety industry as it concerns drug and alcohol testing in Canada. The balance between employer safety concerns with employee privacy is delicate. CannAmm continues to monitor these developments.

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