School District Random Drug Test Discipline Arbitrator's Authority Essence of the CBA
Upper Merion Area Sch. Dist. v. Teamsters Local #384, PICS Case No. 17-1121 (Pa. Commw. June 23, 2017) Wojcik, J. (23 pages).
Trial court properly denied school district's petition to vacate an arbitration award reinstating school bus driver after she was terminated for testing positive for amphetamines during a random drug test because the arbitrator found that the drug ingestion was a single "misadventure" not likely to be repeated, there was no evidence that she was impaired and there was nothing in the CBA to limit arbitrator's authority to modify discipline Affirmed.
Grievant school bus driver was selected for a random drug and alcohol test under the school board's drug/alcohol testing policy. She tested positive for amphetamines and she reported the result to her supervisor. Several days later, she met with the director of human resources who placed her on immediate suspension pending termination charges for violating the district's drug policy. Grievant opted to proceed under the CBA's grievance procedure and union filed a grievance which was denied. The matter proceeded to arbitration. Grievant testified that she was concerned about the effects on her son of his ADHD medication and after being told by son's physician that the drug was not a narcotic, took a pill herself to see the effects several days before she was drug tested. The arbitrator granted the grievance in part and denied it in part. The arbitrator noted that the district's policy did not require termination for a violation of the drug policy, concluded that grievant's situation presented unique circumstances, that termination was too harsh a penalty and directed her reinstatement. District petitioned the trial court for review, the trial court upheld the arbitrator's award and district appealed.
District argued the award violated a well-defined public policy of protecting children from the dangers of illegal drug use. The court agreed with union that the decision in Blairsville-Saltsburg Sch. Dist. v. Blairsville-Saltsburg Educ. Ass'n, 102 A. 3d 1049, controlled. Given the arbitrator's findings that grievant's ingestion of her son's medication was a single "misadventure" not likely to be repeated, the arbitrator's award did not pose an unacceptable risk that undermined the public policy at issue. District also contended the award did not draw its essence from the CBA, but the court found that the essence test did not allow a court to evaluate the reasonableness of an award. The court also noted that absent a clear limitation in the CBA, an arbitrator had the authority to modify the discipline imposed by a school district. In this case, the district pointed to no language in the CBA that limited the arbitrator's authority to modify discipline.
District also argued that grievant was under the influence of a schedule II narcotic while driving the school bus and that her conduct clearly constituted "improper conduct' under 514 of the school code but that argument ignored the arbitrator's findings that there was no evidence that grievant was at all impaired.