KEY POINTS:
A worker who refused a drug test and was fired from a meat processing plant has lost a claim for unjustified dismissal.
Jonathon Parker took his employer, Silver Fern Farms, owner of the Oringi plant near Dannevirke, to the Employment Relations Authority.
Mr Parker worked at the plant from February 2002 until his dismissal on December 7, 2007. He was a union member and there were no warnings or disciplinary issues in respect to his performance before he was sacked.
Because of concerns about drug use, the union and the company management had agreed on a drug-testing policy, which was introduced in January 2007.
A key theme of the policy was to remove the abuse, not the abuser, and offer rehabilitation assistance for those who tested positive at work.
On October 31, 2007, the company conducted a drug search of employees' vehicles in the plant carpark.
A small amount of marijuana was found in Mr Parker's car and he was seen swallowing something and drinking the contents of a container at the same time his car was being searched. He denied ownership of the drug. Mr Parker was asked to remain on site, not to start work, and to meet management.
But, after telling his union delegate he was stressed, he left the workplace, despite advice from the delegate and a company manager he should stay.
Mr Parker saw his doctor and was diagnosed as medically unfit for work from November 1 until December 5 and he was paid for that period.
At a meeting on December 7, the company said it intended issuing Mr Parker with a final warning and required him to take a drug test as a condition of his returning to work.
He was unwilling to undergo the test and was dismissed.
Mr Parker argued that the company's process was unfair and he had been singled out.
Authority member Denis Asher said he was satisfied Mr Parker was bound by the provisions of his collective agreement and the related company drug and alcohol policy.
He believed the company was fair in requiring Mr Parker to undergo a test before returning to work.
- NZPA
