Pubdate: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Chad Skelton Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?224 (Cannabis and Driving) BUS-TED DRIVER BACK ON THE JOB Coast Mountain Bus. CO. Forced To Reinstate Employee Suspected Of Smoking Marijuana A Lower Mainland bus driver who was fired last May after being suspected of smoking marijuana before reporting for work has his job back after an arbitrator ruled there wasn't enough evidence he took the drug. Coast Mountain Bus Co. drivers Gurmukh Gill and Manny Sunga were in uniform and on their way to work May 15 when they were pulled over near the Port Mann Bridge by RCMP Const. Lorne Lecker. Lecker has testified he decided to pull over the car after he saw Gill, the passenger, passing something to Sunga that looked like a joint. After stopping the car, Lecker asked Sunga for his licence and asked him what he was smoking. "Just a bit of pot," Sunga replied, according to the arbitrator's ruling. Sunga was given a 24-hour suspension and had his car towed. Concerned Gill and Sunga were about to drive buses, Lecker contacted Coast Mountain, which sent a supervisor out to the scene. In the days that followed, both Sunga and Gill maintained that only Sunga had been smoking pot and not Gill. Gill offered to take a drug test to prove his innocence -- an offer the company refused. Coast Mountain didn't believe Gill and fired both drivers two days after the incident. But in a recent ruling, arbitrator Ron Keras found there was insufficient evidence Gill was smoking marijuana. "I am unable to conclude on a careful review of all the evidence and argument that [Gill] intended to smoke marijuana on his way to work," wrote Keras. "It is equally likely that Mr. Sunga was the sole smoker." In particular, Keras wrote, Gill's willingness to be tested "is indicative of someone who is not worried about the outcome." But Keras found Gill still showed "poor judgment" by planning to go to work after being in the same car as someone who was smoking marijuana. As punishment for that offence, Keras ruled that the seven months Gill has been off work since the incident should be considered an unpaid "disciplinary suspension." Coast Mountain spokesman Doug McDonald said Wednesday the company does not intend to appeal the arbitrator's decision, It will continue to enforce a "zero tolerance" policy on drug and alcohol use by drivers, he added. "If you come to the workplace under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you're subject to termination," he said. That policy does not address drug or alcohol use by drivers on their own time, McDonald said. Terry Fedoruk, financial secretary of the Canadian Autoworkers Union Local 111 -- the union that represents bus drivers -- said he believes Gill has already returned to work. "To my knowledge he's driving today," Fedoruk said Wednesday. Sunga is still waiting for his arbitration hearing to determine if he can return to work. While he has admitted smoking pot on May 15, Sunga has argued he was not in violation of Coast Mountain's "zero tolerance" policy because he was planning to take the day off work after his babysitting arrangements fell through earlier that day. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom