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| Energy & Utilities
March 29 2016

Preemployment Drug And Alcohol Testing

The law of drug and alcohol testing in Canada is in a state of evolution.

hile the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30 v Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd, provided important guidance on the strict standard that employers must meet in order to subject employees to random testing, it raised many questions regarding how those principles would be applied to other forms of testing.

The trend in the case law suggests that the Court's analysis in Irving Pulp & Paper is not limited to random testing. For example, in Re Mechanical Contractors Association Sarnia v UA Local 663, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld an arbitration award which applied Irving Pulp & Paper to conclude that the employer did not have the right to require pre-employment testing.