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Court: Bus driver's failed drug test evidence of misconduct Thursday, Jun 26, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A former shuttle bus driver for the University of Central Arkansas who was fired after testing positive for marijuana on a Department of Transportation drug test was not entitled to unemployment benefits, the state Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday in a split decision. Dissenting judges said the driver's off-duty marijuana use did not constitute misconduct in connection with his work and should not have been the basis for denying benefits. Mike Cusack was fired from his job at UCA after he failed a drug test he was required to take to maintain his commercial driver's license. The Arkansas Board of Review found Cusack had demonstrated deliberate disregard for his employer's interest and therefore was not entitled to unemployment benefits. The Court of Appeals affirmed the board's ruling Wednesday. "Unemployment benefits are intended to benefit employees who lose their jobs through no fault or voluntary decision of their own," Judge Karen Baker wrote in a majority opinion joined by Chief Judge John Pittman and Judges Sam Bird and Larry Vaught. In a dissenting opinion, Judge John Robbins wrote that although UCA had a drug-free workplace policy, that policy did not have a provision regarding drug testing. "There is nothing in the record indicating that Mr. Cusack lost his commercial driver's license as a result of the positive test, and there was no evidence that he was impaired during his employment hours," Robbins wrote. "In the absence of a written policy supporting the employer's decision to terminate appellant's employment, I would hold that the board erred in finding that appellant's actions constituted misconduct in connection with his work." Judge Jo Hart joined in the dissent. |
