A long-time railway worker’s positive drug test result following a workplace accident was just cause for dismissal, a federal arbitrator has ruled.
The worker was a railcar mechanic for Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway (CPKC) in Winnipeg, hired in 1987.
On April 1, 2019, the worker returned from a leave of absence. He was operating a trackmobile – mobile equipment that moves railcars – when a railcar derailed. CPKC ordered the worker to submit to a post-incident drug test, which involved an oral fluid test and a urine test. The tests came back positive for levels of cannabis above the cutoff amount stipulated in CPKC’s drug and alcohol policy.
