How has an employer been successful in imposing discipline on an employee who was found with a marijuana cigarette in his cigarette package?

78. The Employer also relied on the New Brunswick decision in U.F.C.W., Local 1288P v. Larsen Packers Ltd, supra. In that case, the employee was suspended for two weeks following an allegation that he was in possession of an illegal narcotic while on company property contrary to corporate policy. In addition, the employee failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for the actions and denied on two separate occasions any knowledge of such conduct. The narcotics were found after the employee’s cigarette package was searched and a marijuana cigarette was found. While recognizing that adjudicators had established limitations on the right of an employer to randomly search either the person or the personal effects of employees, the arbitrator stated that one of the exceptions to those managerial limitations arose when there was a “reasonable apprehension” that violations of corporate policies had occurred which might necessitate a search. On that basis, a reasonable suspicion of wrongful conduct by the employee was established. In addition, the employee admitted under oath that he was in possession of an illegal narcotic on Company premises. The admission, in and of itself, established a violation of the corporate policy that, in conjunction with the subsequent denials of the employee, were sufficient to justify the imposition of discipline.