No to random testing to detect the pot in workers

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The president of the FTQ Daniel Boyer, says that in no case the workers should not be present at work under the influence of cannabis or alcohol but random testing is not the solution, according to him.

Francis Halin

Thursday, 4 January 2018 01:00

UPDATE
Thursday, 4 January 2018 01:00

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The senior leaders of the FTQ, fear that employers impose on workers of random testing to detect the consumption of recreational marijuana when it becomes legalized in Canada, in 2018.

“We do not want there to be a witch-hunt, and screening random. We don’t want it” is concerned about Daniel Boyer, the president of the QFL, on the sidelines of a press conference on the trade union priorities in 2018.

Mr. Boyer insists: in any case the workers should not be present at work under the influence of cannabis or alcohol but random testing is not the solution.

The big boss of the FTQ considers that this is not because the United States is doing this type of testing that Quebec should do the same thing. He recalls that his trade union organization is neither for nor against the legalization of cannabis, but that the imposition of random testing does not respect the rights of québec workers.

Photo Agence QMI, Simon Clark

Daniel Boyer

President of the FTQ

“Fear not founded”

François Longpré, lawyer specialist in labour law and employment at Borden Ladner Gervais, said understanding the concerns of the FTQ, which wants to defend its members to the bosses, but he considers it unlikely that this kind of test track day.

“This fear is not founded, because the rules of law that will become applicable [when the cannabis will be legal] are not different [rules] in relation to alcohol and will not over the random test that now”, he says.

It is estimated that the reliability of tests to detect the presence of cannabis is also very controversial. An employee who smokes a joint on Sunday evening could fail a test on Monday morning, even if it is no longer under the effect of the substance.

“Reasonable grounds”

According to Serge Cadieux, secretary general of the FTQ, the courts have already settled the question. “The rule is that the employer has the right to assess an employee if it has reasonable grounds to believe that it is not in a normal state,” he says.

The lawyer, François Longpré agreed with this reading. He thinks that the supreme Court of Canada has put tags very strict.

“If the worker can put in danger his life, his health, the health of co-workers or the equipment of the company, at this time there, you have the right to assess,” says Serge Cadieux.

Random testing

• Very marked by the supreme Court of Canada
• The tests at the output of the factories are not for tomorrow

Obligations of the employer

• Ensure a safe environment for workers
• Act if an employee is an immediate danger

Source: François Longpré, a lawyer at BLG

• Industry of cannabis as a recreational legalized: 22.6 G$
• Canadians aged 15 and over who smoke by 2018: 4.6 million

Source: The top 10 legal risks in business to 2018, BLG