The grievant is a skilled welder for a job shop fabricator ofspecialized

        components foraircraft fuselages which employs 100 people, 75 of whom

        of are in the union.The grievant was discharged for violation of the plant

        rule prohibiting theuse or sale of drugs on employer property and working

        under the influenceof drugs. The use of prescription or over-the –counter

        drugs requires priorapproval from the medical department. A first violation

        of the rule resultsin discipline up to and includingdischarge.                             

             Management indicates that the grievant was staring into space athis welder’s bench and that is eyes were red and glassy and thatsome of his speech seemed slurred. Management discharged thegrievant on the spot.

              The grievant indicated that he had been working under difficultcircumstances over the last few weeks due to the fact that hisdaughter has recently moved back into his home with her twochildren (ages 4 years and 9 months) due to a divorce. He alsopulled a muscle in his neck and has been seeing a physicaltherapist from time to time. The night before his discharge was thethird night in a row he had been awakened by the baby. At 4:00 amhe took an over-the-counter sleeping pill. When his neck started toreally act up at work, the grievant took to a painkiller that hisbrother-in-law had left over after a recent surgery. Whenmanagement approached him he was in a bit of a fog and certainly inno mood to talk.

Apply Interest-Based Problem Solvingto the issue of the employee, under the influence of a prescriptionpain killer.?