COURT RULING COULD AFFECT DRUG TESTING

An Alberta justice has ruled that a construction company discriminated
against a man when it fi red him from an oilsands project after his
pre-employment drug test was positive for marijuana.

Justice Sheilah Martin said the man should have been treated the same
as someone with a drug addiction, which is considered a disability in
a growing body of human rights case law across Canada.

It is believed to be the fi rst time that Alberta's Court of Queen's
Bench has addressed the issue of pre-employment drug testing under
human rights legislation.

Some are calling it a signifi cant decision that could place new legal
limits on when workers can be tested for drugs.

"It is important for all workers," said Leanne Chahley, an Edmonton
labour lawyer, who regularly represents unions.

It means that a worker does not have to be disabled to challenge a
policy as discriminatory, she said. It also means that companies
cannot use drug tests to weed out potential employees who test positive.

Kellogg Brown & Root argued in court that pre-employment drug testing
was "a necessary facet of a wider drug and alcohol strategy to counter
the pressing danger of the growing drug culture in Fort McMurray."