Trucking Company Ordered to Reinstate Employee Fired for Drinking on the Job Due to Alcoholism

A Quebec trucking company has been ordered to reinstate an employee who was fired after drinking at least nine beers before losing control of her truck on a Pennsylvania highway.

The driver’s actions constituted serious misconduct, but her drinking was the result of an illness — alcoholism — and Groupe Robert should have offered her reasonable accommodation, writes labor arbitrator Huguette April in her decision written on July 18.

“The night of the accident [l’employée] needed to drink, recalls Mr.^me April. She admitted that even though she knew she shouldn’t, the urge was stronger, like something she couldn’t control. »

The woman was fired after being involved in an accident on June 30, 2022. The truck was damaged, but there were no injuries in the accident.

The facts of the case indicate that the truck driver stopped twice to buy cases of six cans of beer while traveling from a Montreal suburb to Pennsylvania. The woman admitted to drinking at least nine beers on the trip, but she could not remember if she had drunk the last three on the road.

After the crash, she was arrested with a blood alcohol level of 0.18, more than double the legal limit.

The truck driver told her employer about her alcoholism about a week after the accident and that she sought medical help to stop drinking. She was officially fired on August 31, after completing an inpatient drug treatment program.

M^me April said there was no evidence Groupe Robert asked or checked whether its struggling employee was suffering from alcoholism.

The ex-employee pleaded before the arbitrator that the company could have installed an alcohol testing device in her truck after the accident or found her another job in its organization.

Groupe Robert told the arbitrator that the employee had violated the collective agreement which stipulated that truck drivers who drank on the job would be fired.

The company said it would appeal the decision.

“At Groupe Robert, the safety of all road users is our top priority,” company spokeswoman Kim Leclerc wrote in an email on Monday, adding that the decision to lay off the trucker “n was not taken lightly”.

“We have a responsibility to the community to ensure that our employees adhere to the highest safety standards,” added Ms.^me Leclerc.

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