Undercover investigator observed employee with drugs after shift
This instalment of You Make the Call features a hotel employee who was caught with drugs at work.
Chris Papapashalis, 43, was a server at a restaurant in the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Papapashalis had 21 years of service with Fairmont and on Jan. 28, 2009, signed the hotel’s Drug Free Workplace Policy. The policy outlined the hotel’s commitment to maintain a drug-free work environment and indicated any violation of the policy would lead to discipline up to and including termination of employment. The policy also specifically prohibited using or selling alcohol or drugs on hotel property or vehicles while on company business, or being intoxicated on the job.
In early 2010, Fairmont initiated an undercover investigation to deal with drugs in the workplace. On Jan. 30, 2010, Papapashalis was observed by an investigator with a marijuana cigarette in the employee locker room about 10 minutes after the end of his shift. A week later, he was seen smoking marijuana with other employees at the hotel’s receiving gate 30 minutes after the end of his shift. Then, on March 9, he was spotted with hashish in the locker room while still wearing his uniform, about 20 minutes before his shift ended.
After the results of the investigation were compiled in a report, Fairmont interviewed Papapashalis about what had been seen. He admitted that he had smoked marijuana once when the investigator was around, but he claimed it had been six weeks since his last joint and he didn’t let it interfere with his work. He denied having hashish in the locker room. Fairmont searched him but he had no drugs on him. Given the evidence it had, Fairmont felt Papapashalis had engaged in a pattern of serious misconduct that violated its drug policy and undermined its faith that he could respect workplace policies and show common sense at work. It terminated Papapashalis’ employment on April 10.
The union grieved the termination and at the grievance meeting, Papapashalis admitted to possessing hashish in the locker room. He also admitted he was aware of the drug policy and he shouldn’t have had narcotics in the workplace. He also said that once or twice a week he smoked drugs that he was given by someone at work on his way home from work. However, he denied he was ever under the influence of drugs at work, because that would be wrong and unsafe. Papapashalis also said he had quit smoking drugs five weeks before his termination because he had asthma.
You Make the Call
Was the employment relationship repairable?
OR
Did the employer have just cause to terminate the employee?
If you said the employment relationship could be repaired and Papapashalis should be reinstated, you’re right. The arbitrator agreed that possession of drugs in the workplace “in a casual and public way,” especially when it contradicted a specific policy, was serious misconduct. However, this was mitigated in a small way by the fact there wasn’t a risk to Papapashalis’ job performance or to workplace health and safety because he didn’t consume them while on duty or in the workplace.
The arbitrator noted that while Papapashalis acknowledged some of his misconduct initially, he didn’t admit to all of it until after he was terminated. In addition, while he expressed remorse, he didn’t actually apologize. However, the arbitrator found Papapashalis did feel remorse and was unlikely to commit a similar offence, particularly since he indicated he had stopped taking drugs.
Fairmont was ordered to reinstate Papapashalis. However, given the seriousness of his misconduct, the arbitrator ruled he was not entitled to any back pay since his termination, effectively resulting in a two-year suspension — sufficient to demonstrate the seriousness and act as a deterrent to others.
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