Welcome to Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! This week, lawyer Kyla Lee discusses random drug testing employees.
Acumen Law Corporation lawyer Kyla Lee gives her take on a made-in-Canada court case each week, and discusses why these cases should have been heard by Canada’s highest court: the Supreme Court of Canada.
Suncor Energy created a policy at their company whereby employees would be subject to random drug testing. The union filed a grievance claiming that this policy was an unfair infringement on their personal privacy rights. They were successful in their grievance and the policy was overturned. Suncor appealed to the higher court claiming that the decision was unreasonable and the higher court found that the decision was unreasonable and sent it back to be reconsidered by the arbitration tribunal. The Court of Appeal agreed with the Supreme Court and the matter went before the Supreme Court of Canada.
This is an important issue because this is something that is going to be coming to a lot of workplaces once marijuana is legal in Canada. That issue is how do you test employees in a fair way that protects their rights for drugs and alcohol, and how do you ensure that you have a safe working environment?
This would have been a good opportunity for the Supreme Court of Canada to clarify the state of the law on this issue and to get ahead of something we all know is coming. The SCC could have made it easier for judges and tribunals applying those laws and considering the reasonableness of workplace policies in the future.
Watch the video for more.
