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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom