Arbitrator strikes down TTC's 'unreasonable' random drug-testing policy
· Toronto Sun
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OTTAWA — The Toronto Transit Commission’s random drug-testing policy is on the wrong track.
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That was the conclusion of a labour arbitrator on Monday, who ruled the TTC’s random drug-testing policies were both unreasonable and contrary to Section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms .
In her 350-page ruling, arbitrator Laura Trachuk found no justification to impose random drug testing on TTC employees, saying no scientific evidence existed to support that such surprise tests improved safety.
Trachuk also ruled that oral tests for THC, the principal psychoactive compound in cannabis, are “not fit for the purpose for which it is being used by the TTC.”
Tests ‘inaccurate and unreliable:’ Union head
The decision is being widely celebrated by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113, which represents nearly 12,000 TTC employees in the city — with local president Marvin Alfred saying that thousands of his members were forced to take the tests.
“Hundreds of workers have lost their employment because they were forced to take tests that were inaccurate and unreliable,” he said in a statement received by the Toronto Sun.
“This policy has been a tragedy for the workers and their families who have been devastated because of the misguided and inappropriate use of tests.”
Alfred said the general public was among those most impacted by the TTC’s policy, aside from workers who endured a loss of privacy and ruined lives.
“Public dollars that could have been used for real and effective safety initiatives were instead wasted,” he said.
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Reinstatement among the remedies ordered
In her decision, Trachuk ordered a number of remedies for eight workers whose cases formed the basis for the union’s grievance — remedies that included immediate reinstatement of positions.
While Trachuk’s decision had not been released to the public by Monday afternoon, a 2017 interlocutory injunction ruling stated the TTC’s random drug policy was put into effect in 2010.
While the policy didn’t include random drug testing at the time — initially only for those involved in serious incidents — the TTC amended it to include random testing a year later with up to 20% of safety-critical positions expected to undergo random testing annually, including operators, maintenance crew, supervisors and upper management, including the CEO.
The rollout was greenlit in 2016 with $1.3 million set aside for a third-party testing firm, but legal battles delayed the actual launch of random testing until May 2017 .
Historic TTC data showed 4,300 employees were subjected to random drug tests between May 2017 and December 2018 with 2% either refusing the test or failing altogether.