HOT BOXED DRIVER BACK

One of two bus drivers fired for smoking marijuana on their way to
work last spring is back on the job after an arbitrator's ruling that
he may not have intended to get stoned.

Gurmukh Gill was a passenger in a car driven by another Coast
Mountain Bus Co. driver who RCMP said appeared to pass Gill a joint
before they were pulled over on May 15, 2005 while westbound for the
Port Mann Bridge.

Asked by the officer what he was smoking, driver Manny Sunga said
"just a bit of pot" before surrendering a film canister half full of marijuana.

He was given a 24-hour roadside suspension and his car was towed.

The bus company, which has a zero tolerance policy for alcohol and
drug use in the workplace, concluded both driver's actions were
unacceptable and fired them.

The two uniformed bus drivers, both of Abbotsford, said only Sunga
had smoked marijuana ?" not Gill ?" and that Sunga intended to take
the day off because of child care commitments.

Gill, who offered to be tested to prove his innocence, testified he
never touched the joint and was surprised when Sunga lit it ?"
something he said had never happened before.

Arbitrator Ron Keras also heard testimony that plans were still being
made to get Gill to work until the RCMP officer noted the "hot box
effect" of being in the pot-infused car could leave Gill impaired
without smoking himself.

"If the car had not been seized, he would have continued to work to
drive a bus after being in a confined space with someone smoking
marijuana," Keras ruled, finding that "very troubling."

But it was impossible to determine conclusively that Gill smoked
marijuana and that he intended to do so, he said.

Because it was a first known incident for Gill, who had an
unblemished four-year record, Keras found he should be reinstated and
the seven months he spent out of work should be counted as a
disciplinary suspension.

Coast Mountain Bus Company spokesman Doug McDonald said management
still feels its response was right.

"We don't consider it compromises our zero tolerance policy at this
point and we'll move on," he said.

He said the disciplinary suspension does send a message.

"We won't appeal the arbitrator's ruling," McDonald said.

Sunga's termination is also being grieved and will be the subject of
a second arbitration.