Bus driver fired; Bus service suspended for BIU meeting (Update 6:30pm)

Union officials called a meeting of bus operators and allied workers to decide what action to take over the dismissal of the driver, announced this morning.

The meeting, currently under way, follows the announcement made by Transport Minister Terry Lister earlier this afternoon that the driver had been fired.

Mr Lister said the female bus driver, a four-year veteran of the service, had been sacked on the grounds of “insubordination” after refusing to comply with service rules to submit to drug testing after an accident in which a passenger was injured.

Mr Lister said: “I’d wish to say that the Ministry and the Department of Public Transport have been more accommodating with this employee and provided ample opportunity for her to be tested in accordance with policy.

“We don’t want to see anyone terminated — I can assure the public that this Ministry has worked very hard to ensure a fair, just and transparent policy was adhered to.”

Mr Lister confirmed the matter had been discussed at Cabinet level on Tuesday, and that he had the backing of his colleagues on the dismissal.

He added: “I would expect the union will meet with the bus operators to talk it through. Any decisions they do make should not be a decision by the executive of the BIU, but one by the 130-plus men and women who work for the service.”

Mr Lister said even if the driver had failed a drugs test she would not have been automatically fired, but continued in employment on full pay while attending an Employee Assistance Programme course.

He added: “My job is to ensure we have a high-quality service for the people of Bermuda and I get concerned every time there is something which looks like it’s not going to work.”

Mr Lister, quoting from the drugs testing waiver signed by every new bus service worker, dismissed Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) claims that only a urine test was approved in the agreement.

He said the agreement covered a urine test and “any other tests ordinarily necessary”.

Mr Lister added: “The preferred test is hair follicles — it’s preferred all over the world and it’s obviously the one we would use seven weeks later.

“It would be absolutely foolish that we would submit an operator to urine test seven weeks later. A hair test is good for six months, I understand.”

Bus services were disrupted on Monday as operators attended a mass meeting at BIU headquarters in Hamilton, where they voted to back their colleague.

The incident blew up after an accident on Friday, June 24, when the woman driver’s bus broke down in Paget en route to Dockyard.

An investigation found she had failed to put on the handbrake and her bus rolled forward as passengers were being transferred to another bus. A woman’s hand was trapped as she boarded the replacement vehicle.

The woman was suspended a few days later after refusing a drugs test on the following Monday morning.

As you are aware we have been engaged in an ongoing dispute with the Bermuda Industrial Union, surrounding a Department of Public Transportation bus operator who has refused to be tested for substance abuse after causing an accident that injured a passenger’s hand.

To be clear, in accordance with Ministry policy, the operator who caused the accident should have immediately reported the incident to DPT.  This she failed to do.  She should have submitted to an automatic substance test.  This she also failed to do.

The submission to an automatic substance test is a condition of employment at DPT.  If a bus operator is involved in an accident that causes an injury to a person and that injury requires the person to go to the hospital, then the operator must undergo a substance abuse test. 

As was highlighted in our statement last week, the bus operator in question, a four-year employee, has been given at least five opportunities since the accident on Friday, 24^th June to take a substance abuse test – in accordance with internal policy. 

To be clear the initial test should have been taken on the date of the accident.  However, the operator, after leaving the scene of the accident, called in sick and did not return to work until Monday 27^th June.

To be clear, the operator was contacted by the supervisor and was instructed to contact Headquarters as the acting Operations Manager requested her to return to Headquarters.  The operator agreed to contact Headquarters; the only contact was her notifying the department that she was sick.   

I wish to make it clear that the initial suspension was with pay while investigations continued. 

When she refused to be tested on Monday 27^th, she was then placed on unpaid suspension effective Wednesday 28^th June. It is important to point out that since which a Health and Safety investigation has determined that the operator was solely to blame for the accident.  

I should note that if the tests results were positive, the policy would have been that the operator would not be automatically dismissed, instead she would have been referred to EAP with full pay and benefits while she receives the appropriate treatment and counseling.

DPT had given the operator another opportunity as recently as Friday, 12^th August to take the test. And again she refused.

After a thorough review of the matter and numerous discussions with the BIU, a decision has been made by DPT to terminate her employment with the Department of Public Transportation on the grounds of insubordination in accordance with Article 27 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

I want to stress that the Ministry and DPT management has been more than accommodating to the employee, and has provided ample opportunity for her to be tested in accordance with our established policy. 

And we don’t wish to see anyone at a loss of employment, however policies, processes and procedures are put in place to be held and they are put in place for the protection of the employee, the employer and the public…. and they must be followed.

As a final note, I can assure the public that this Ministry has worked very, very hard to ensure that a fair, just and transparent process was adhered to.