{ "name": "Australian FWC medical cannabis & workplace testing case database", "description": "Fair Work Commission and court decisions on cannabis, workplace drug testing and dismissal in Australia. One entry per decision, each verified against the published decision text.", "publisher": "Medical Cannabis at Work", "licence": "CC BY 4.0", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "source_url": "https://www.medicalcannabisatwork.com.au/tracker/", "citation": "Medical Cannabis at Work, \"Australian FWC medical cannabis & workplace testing case database\", medicalcannabisatwork.com.au/tracker/, CC BY 4.0.", "note": "Verified entries only. Entries still in review are visible on the site marked as such and are deliberately excluded from this file.", "updated": "2026-07-29", "count": 9, "cases": [ { "id": "toms-2014", "citation": "Harbour City Ferries v Toms [2014] FWCFB 6249; appeal dismissed, Toms v Harbour City Ferries [2015] FCAFC 35", "line": "pillars", "outcome_chip": "upheld", "outcome_label": "Dismissal stood", "col2": "Ferry master smoked cannabis for shoulder pain on a night off, was called in next day, tested positive after a minor berthing accident. No evidence of impairment; accident unrelated to the drug.", "lesson": "The foundation stone: breach of a clear safety policy is serious misconduct in itself — the employer “never wants to have the discussion” about whether drugs contributed. Impairment evidence is beside the point. Note the detail: this was self-medication for pain, a decade before prescriptions were mainstream.", "source_url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWCFB/2014/6249.html" }, { "id": "sharp-2015", "citation": "Sharp v BCS Infrastructure Support [2015] FWCFB 1033", "line": "pillars", "outcome_chip": "upheld", "outcome_label": "Dismissal upheld", "col2": "Aviation maintenance worker, reading far above the cannabinoid cut-off in safety-sensitive aviation activities.", "lesson": "Industry regimes harden everything: where a regulated safety scheme sits above the employer policy, strict enforcement is reasonable even where impairment can’t be established either way.", "source_url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWCFB/2015/1033.html" }, { "id": "hilder-2020", "citation": "Sydney Trains v Hilder [2020] FWCFB 1373", "line": "pillars", "outcome_chip": "upheld", "outcome_label": "Reinstatement overturned", "col2": "Rail worker, one-off cannabis use at a social gathering, failed a random test at work the next morning.", "lesson": "The “breach simpliciter” case: attending work above the cut-off breaches the policy unconditionally — the worker’s honest belief that enough time had passed did not save him.", "source_url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWCFB/2020/1373.html" }, { "id": "haigh-2023", "citation": "Haigh v Platinum Blasting Services [2023] FWC 2465", "line": "medical", "outcome_chip": "upheld", "outcome_label": "Dismissal upheld", "col2": "Mining explosives worker disclosed a cannabis prescription, switched medication, then quietly resumed use. The FWC found the safety-regulator finding outweighed the medical evidence the worker relied on.", "lesson": "Disclosed once, switched medication, quietly resumed cannabis — disclosure is an ongoing duty, not a form filled at induction.", "source_url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWC/2023/2465.html" }, { "id": "gauci-2024", "citation": "Gauci v DP World Brisbane [2024] FWC 2351", "line": "medical", "outcome_chip": "upheld", "outcome_label": "Dismissal upheld", "col2": "Stevedore at DP World Brisbane tested positive for THC. The policy set cut-off levels, not impairment measures, and the Commission held the employer was entitled to enforce the cut-offs as written.", "lesson": "The policy set cut-offs, not impairment measures — and the Commission noted that had he disclosed, doctor and employer could have agreed working arrangements. The safety valve existed; he never pulled it.", "source_url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWC/2024/2351.html" }, { "id": "mills-2025", "citation": "Mills v Glamorgan Spring Bay Council [2025] FWC 116", "line": "medical", "outcome_chip": "upheld", "outcome_label": "Dismissal upheld", "col2": "Council machinery operator declared the cannabis but not the THC. Why partial disclosure is non-disclosure, and why a late offer to change medication came too late to save the dismissal.", "lesson": "Partial disclosure is non-disclosure: he declared the cannabis, not the THC. A late offer to change medication couldn’t cure the breach.", "source_url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWC/2025/116.html" }, { "id": "pitts-2013", "citation": "Pitts v AGC Industries [2013] FWCFB 9196", "line": "process", "outcome_chip": "info", "outcome_label": "Process scrutinised", "col2": "Urine screening and retest windows after non-negative results", "lesson": "Retest timeframes and how workers “come clean” matter — testing programs are judged as processes, not single results.", "source_url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWCFB/2013/9196.html" }, { "id": "hancock-2022", "citation": "Hancock v DP World Brisbane [2022] FWCFB 142", "line": "process", "outcome_chip": "upheld", "outcome_label": "Valid reason upheld", "col2": "Chain of custody and the policy’s dismissal provision", "lesson": "Documented chain of custody plus the worker’s own admission defeated the process challenge.", "source_url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWCFB/2022/142.html" }, { "id": "cunningham-2015", "citation": "Cunningham v Downer EDI Mining [2015] FWC 318", "line": "process", "outcome_chip": "upheld", "outcome_label": "Dismissal upheld", "col2": "Methylamphetamine at four times the cut-off, mine dump truck", "lesson": "The framework is substance-agnostic: the same policy machinery decides cannabis, meth and everything else.", "source_url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FWC/2015/318.html" } ] }