AREEA’s upcoming Perth Breakfast Forum will explore all the latest developments, policies and practices around drug and alcohol testing in resource industry workplaces.

Taking place on April 16 at Hyatt Regency, Perth, a panel of drug and alcohol testing experts and resource practitioners will discuss this contentious and often ambiguous area of OHS and management responsibility.

For more information on this event, click here.

FWC approves tougher limit for manufacturer

The AREEA Perth Breakfast Forum, exploring all the issues on drug and alcohol testing, comes after dairy manufacturing company Fonterra Australia successfully won the Fair Work Commission’s endorsement for a tougher limit on employees’ blood alcohol content.

The Communications Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) were jointly contesting Fonterra’s new policy to restrict the acceptable blood alcohol limit for employees to .02% – a lower threshold to the existing .05% limit.

The unions claimed to a single member of the Fair Work Commission that the new policy contravened the enterprise agreement. Specifically, the unions argued that because the blood alcohol content (BAC) limit had not been raised during negotiations it was an ‘extra claim’ which the company was expressly prohibited from making.

However, the unions’ position banked on the .05% limit being a ‘common understanding’, rather than clearly identified, prompting Deputy President Kovacic to reject the argument.

“The evidence lead by Fonterra disputed the existence of a common understanding and did not identify any instances of managers advising employees that a BAC reading of 0.05% was acceptable,” DP Kovacic noted.

“Much was made of Fonterra’s witnesses of the Guide, [which] states that ‘People will not return to work under the influence of alcohol’. It defines ‘under the influence’ in the following terms: ‘As a guide, a person would be considered impaired to the point whereby they could not drive a motor vehicle and would be over the legal drinking limit’.

“Tellingly, however, none of the witnesses for the applicants referred to the Guide in either their witness statements and/or under cross examination. This raises doubts as to what, if any, extent the document served to establish and/or reinforce maintenance employees’ understanding that a BAC limit of 0.05% applied.”

“The absence of any such understanding, together with the absence of testing regime to enforce a BAC limit of 0.05% do not support a finding that the BAC limit was a condition of employment.”

Without evidence to suggest the blood alcohol limit formed a claim under the agreement, DP Kovacic rejected the position that the introduction of a blood alcohol limit was a contravention of the ‘no additional claims’ clause.

The unions indicated that a .02% blood alcohol limited restricted the employees’ lifestyle choices at times when they were on agreement to remain available at all times, but DP Kovacic placed greater weight on Fonterra’s argument.

“Fonterra’s submission that nothing was changing or being taken away from employees as a result of its decision to implement a drug and alcohol policy is highly pertinent,” DP Kovacic noted.

“For example, a maintenance employee employed under the four sites agreement and on the availability roster would on 31 July 2014 (the day before the policy took effect) be paid an availability allowance of $240.99 per week.

“The same employee would be paid exactly the same allowance on 1 August 2014, the day the policy took effect.”

Summarily, the Fair Work Commission approved the blood alcohol limit and dismissed the case.

To read the case in full, click here.

Don’t miss the Perth AREEA Breakfast Forum

AREEA members can get the latest insight on this case and others dealing with drug and alcohol testing at the upcoming Perth Breakfast Forum.

Attendants will also have an opportunity to network with AREEA’s own workplace relations experts, who can provide advice, information and guidance about workplace drug and alcohol testing, as well as your organisation’s rights and responsibilities.

To register your attendance, click here.