(The Calgary Sun published the following story by Kevin Martin on its website on April 29.)
CALGARY — A rail-traffic controller whose bid to get back pay from his suspension during a drug-use investigation will get another hearing.
Justice Eric Macklin ruled the arbitrator who refused Richard Greg Bisson’s bid to get his unpaid wages erred in his review of the rail workers’ collective-bargaining agreement.
Macklin, in a decision released yesterday, said arbitrator Michel Picher failed to explain why the agreement didn’t apply in Bisson’s case.
Bisson was taken off the job for safety reasons on April 6, 2001 — three days after his name appeared in the Sun as a suspect in a series of biker-related drug police raids.
The decision was made after he refused to voluntarily submit to drug testing, explaining the small amount of marijuana found in his home belonged to his roommate.
After a formal investigation by his employer, CP Rail, Bisson attended a mandatory assessment which included a drug test.
When test results exonerated Bisson, he was cleared to return to work and did so May 13.
Picher ruled the company was justified in demanding a drug test “before returning (Bisson) to the highly sensitive duties of a rail-traffic controller.”
Macklin agreed safety concerns validated the firm’s actions in asking that testing be done.
“This is an extremely safety sensitive position similar to that of an air-traffic controller,” he said.
But the Queen’s Bench judge said that did not eliminate the need to consider provisions of the collective-bargaining agreement once Bisson was cleared.
A section of the agreement says if an employee is found blameless in a matter under investigation, he will be paid for the time lost while under suspension.