Employers are facing new challenges with current drug testing policies thanks to the legalization of recreational cannabis. But the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in the case of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1620 v Lower Churchill Transmission Construction Employers’ Association Inc., 2019 NLSC 48, held that the inability to measure residual impairment of cannabis constitutes undue hardship in a safety-sensitive workplace. The case involved an employee who, prescribed medicinal cannabis through his family doctor for chronic pain, was eventually laid off from his safety-sensitive position in the construction industry due to concerns over impairment while on the job.
