The Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador overturned the decision of the province’s Supreme Court in International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1620 v. Lower Churchill Transmission Construction Employers’ Association Inc., 2020 NLCA 20 (“International Brotherhood). The suit addressed an employer’s obligation to accommodate medical cannabis use for workers in safety-sensitive positions. In this case, an employee was denied employment on a safety-sensitive construction project due to his use of medically prescribed cannabis. The Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador concluded that the arbitrator’s decision was unreasonable because he considered the class of individuals who use medical cannabis rather than conducting an individual assessment to determine whether the grievor could safely perform the job despite his use of medical cannabis, without undue hardship to the employer.
