While on duty as a Machine operator on January 29, 1991, claimant was involved in a vehicular accident. Pursuant to Carrier policy, Claimant was asked to submit to drug testing following this accident. Claimant did not object to such testing, which ultimately showed a level of 104 ng/ml of d (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana. Claimant was subsequently removed from service and direct

At the hearing, Claimant admitted he had used marijuana on December 31, 1990, and had been "around a lot of marijuana smoking" between that time and the date of this incident. He denied, however, that he had used marijuana sinc the circumstances, this Board does not find support for the organization's suggestion the positive test was the result of Claimant's use of marijuana some four weeks earlier, compounded by passive inhalation since then. There is no medical evidence to support a conclusion these factors could have produced these results in excess of 100 ng/ml. See Third Division Award 28128.

Although the Organization raises the issue of the relationship between a positive test and impairment for the first time before this Board, and we are compelled not to consider the merits of such an argument under the rules of the Board, we note that the Carrier's rule proscribes the illegal use of drugs, whether on duty or off duty. Thus, a positive test is prima facie evidence of a violation of the rule.

The charge against Claimant having been proven, we do not find the discipline imposed to be arbitrary or unreasonable.

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