Last week, Vancouver-based company Cannabix announced it had entered into an exclusive license to use “THC Breath Analyzer” technology developed by the University of British Columbia in a line of low cost, portable THC breath analyzers the company describes as “ideally suited for workplace, parental, and personal use testing.”
Cannabis human resources expert Erin Gratton quickly responded to the news.
“To market this product to employers in this fashion is dangerous. It puts Canadians workplace rights and protections at risk.”
@Cannabix_BLO I believe that a “low cost device” marketed to employers should stand up in court (wrongful dismissal). It should be court admissible!
To market this product to employers in this fashion is dangerous. It puts Canadians workplace rights and protections at risk.
— Erin Gratton (@ErinEGratton) September 24, 2019
Join the Leafly Canada CommunityShe followed up by noting the company attempted to stoke fear to encourage sales, noting Cannabix’s co-president says in a promotional video that “‘use of marijuana is as high as alcohol in our society.’ This simply is not true. We need a reliable test at work, however, fear is not necessary to market it.”
Canadian employers may generally only subject workers to drug testing within safety-sensitive workplaces.
According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, “Because of the potential to intrude on people’s privacy, drug and alcohol testing can only be justified in very narrow circumstances—where there are health and safety concerns in dangerous work environments in which people are doing safety-sensitive work.
“Drug and alcohol testing that has no demonstrated relationship to job safety and performance, or where there has been no evidence of enhanced safety risks in the workplace, has been found to violate employees’ rights.
