FIRED WORKERS HOPE FOR RIGHTS APPEAL

Jilted workers in Alberta's oilsands are keeping their fingers
crossed that the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission
moves ahead with a speedy appeal of the decision against them.

"We have no human rights," said Henry White, an oilsands worker who
claimed he was fired from his job with Albian Sands Energy Inc. in
2005 for failing a marijuana test. "They (the human rights
commission) are purposely holding back all the cases pending until
this law came through."

The Alberta Court of Appeal recently upheld a human rights panel
ruling that worker John Chiasson was not addicted to marijuana when
infrastructure company Kellogg, Brown and Root fired him for failing
a drug test.

Because he was not an addict, Chiasson was not protected by Alberta's
human rights legislation that forbids discrimination on the basis of
disability, the court found.

However, the judges also decided that safety concerns justify
workplace drug-testing policies.

"The evidence disclosed that the effects of casual use of cannabis
sometimes linger for several days after its use," the ruling says.
"Some of the lingering effects raise concerns regarding the user's
ability to function in a safety-challenged environment."

The ruling means similar complaints before the human rights
commission could meet a similar fate.

"They're trying to pass a new law that if you're a casual,
recreational user they don't have to offer you any help or put you
through any treatment," said White.

He estimated more than 100 other people have similar complaints worth
about $25,000 each before the human rights commission.

White claimed his case before the commission dragged on for more than
two years, but now that the laws have changed the commission has told
him his complaint will be ruled against.

"They told me (Monday) I'm hooped now," he said. "If they had
completed our cases when they were supposed to, we would have all got
good settlements.

"They're putting all our cases on hold so they can change the laws."

Human rights commission senior counsel Audrey Dean denied White's allegations.

"I don't think so," said Dean. "Each case will be dealt with
individually, on its own merits."

If it's upheld, the appeal court decision would retroactively affect
the claims of 60 oilsands workers with similar complaints pending, said Dean.

But the human rights commission has not yet decided if it will appeal
the Alberta Court's decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. The
director of the human rights commission has until Feb. 26 to appeal.