IH ordered to change policy on substance abuse by staff

An Interior Health policy dealing with substance-use disorders among its employees has been suspended for being discriminatory.

“The policy was fundamentally discriminatory in that it imposed a uniform approach on different individuals with respect to substance abuse,” said Jennifer Whiteside, secretary-business manager with the Hospital Employees’ Union.

The union, which represents 8,000 workers in jobs such as housekeeping, clerical, laundry and food services, filed a grievance alleging the IH policy targeted employees with substance-use disorders.

Under the policy, if an employee was found to have or perceived to have a substance-use disorder, the employer would remove the individual from the workplace, said Whiteside.

“(They) would subject the worker to invasive examinations, would require the worker to see a doctor chosen by the employer and would force the individual into a monitoring regime that was onerous and caused significant financial burden to many individuals subject to this policy,” she said.

In a recent decision, arbitrator John Hall found several elements of the policy to be unreasonable.

“The policy as a whole obviously needs amendment on several fronts,” Hall wrote in his decision.

He ordered Interior Health to suspend the policy immediately pending a number of changes that need to be made.

These changes include IH not being able to automatically place an employee on leave pending an assessment if it suspects the employee has a substance-use disorder.

IH must also seek information in the least intrusive manner possible, including from an employee’s family doctor to determine if an independent medical examination is necessary.

The policy is also only to apply to employees with severe substance-use disorders.

Hall ordered IH to engage in consultations with the union for at least 90 days to discuss the changes to the policy.

Whiteside said the union is pleased with Hall’s ruling.

“Hall supported many of the arguments that we put forward with respect to the discriminatory aspects of this policy,” she said.

Ordering Interior Health to suspend the policy pending the changes is a rare decision, she said.

“He’s saying this policy is so egregious that it needs to be suspended immediately.”

Mel Griffin, the vice-president of human resources and mental health and substance use for Interior Health, said he too is pleased with the arbitrator’s decision.

“The core elements of the policy have been upheld by the arbitrator,” he said. “There are some pieces of it that need to be changed, and we really respect and appreciate the feedback we’ve gotten from the arbitrator.”

The purpose of the policy is to support employees who have issues with substance abuse and addictions, said Griffin.

“We have to balance the needs of our employees and the needs of the people that we provide service to,” he said.

Interior Health has 15 days from the time of the ruling, issued Nov. 13, to appeal the decision.