Dismissed for refusal to not use drugs

A forklift operator challenges his dismissal for refusing to sign a last-chance agreement. A few months after returning to work from a closed treatment program due to a drug use problem, the employee reported to work smelling strongly of cannabis. He was then suspended for investigation. The employer’s doctor formally recommended total abstinence due to a diagnosis of substance use disorder. The last-chance agreement included an obligation for the employee to be sober. However, since the employee wished to use occasionally outside of work, he refused to agree to this condition and refused to sign the last-chance agreement. According to the arbitrator, the employee refused the very basis of his recovery and the employer could not simply wait for him to change his mind. The employee does not want to stop using, although it is the initial condition for his reinstatement. The arbitrator upheld the dismissal.

Syndicat des travailleuses et travailleurs de Colabor Lévis  and Groupe Colabor inc., division Saint-Nicolas
2022EXPT-2596, 2022 QCTA 496, M^e Alain Turcotte