Pubdate: Fri, 26 Jan 2001
Source: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2001 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/services/letters_editor.htm
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
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Author: Brittany Wallman

LAUDERDALE FIREFIGHTER REINSTATED AFTER TRYING TO MASK EVIDENCE OF 
MARIJUANA USE

FORT LAUDERDALE -- A city firefighter who doctored his drug test to 
avoid testing positive for marijuana has been reinstated to his job 
and his promotion to lieutenant, despite city efforts to fire him.

Stanley Giesey, a nine-year employee of the fire department, was 
fired by city administrators last April, after he admitted masking 
potential marijuana traces in his urine with a powder his neighbor 
gave him. He said he had unwittingly inhaled second-hand smoke from 
the illegal drug while napping on a boat, in a room where he awoke to 
find two men smoking it.

Giesey was subject to the drug test because he'd been promoted to lieutenant.

City officials were disappointed by the ruling and said they'll look 
into whether Giesey's rank can be stripped.

"The arbitrator is saying we can't fire him," said Assistant City 
Manager Bud Bentley. "So now we have to look at what appropriate 
discipline is. Something of this magnitude, altering a drug test, 
does not speak highly of somebody's ability to be a manager."

The city had equated Geisey's actions with a refusal to be 
drug-tested, which they said calls for dismissal under a "zero 
tolerance" anti-drug policy. But arbitrator Richard Mittenthal ruled 
that the city does not in fact have a zero tolerance policy in place 
for employees who alter a drug test, or refuse to take it altogether.

Zero tolerance, which calls for mandatory firing, regardless of 
circumstances, applies only for Fort Lauderdale firefighters who test 
positive for drug use on or off duty, Mittenthal wrote in his summary 
decision. Thus, the firefighter's explanation and personnel history 
had to be considered in this case.

"His passive inhalation was one of those unfortunate and 
unanticipated happenings which people may occasionally experience," 
Mittenthal wrote.

Giesey told officials he went on a night fishing trip on March 11 
with two friends and a crowd of others. He took a nap in a small 
cabin, woke up and found that two men were smoking marijuana in the 
room with the door closed. He felt its effects and complained to the 
captain.

Worried about it later, he consulted a neighbor, who gave him a 
powder called "Klear." He hid it in his medical glove pouch on his 
belt and sprinkled it into his urine specimen.

"He insisted he was not a drug user and was guilty only of a bad 
mistake and an error in judgment," the arbitrator wrote.

Giesey could not be reached for comment. But union president Ian Kemp 
of the Fort Lauderdale Professional Firefighters Local 765 said 
Giesey's punishment is sufficient and that the arbitrator's ruling 
preempts any other discipline.

"He has never ever tested positive for drugs," said Kemp. "He 
subsequently took his own drug test and he was negative. And he paid 
dearly. He was off, how long was he off -- eight months maybe -- with 
zero pay, and he has a family with two kids at home. He lost a 
tremendous amount of money."

The arbitrator ruled that Giesey's time off should be considered a 
non-paid suspension.

Bentley said the ruling does not alter the city's drug policy.

"The zero tolerance policy continues. And we believe it's good public 
policy. What this means is if you mess up the test, the arbitrator 
says depending on your explanation for fraudulently and deceitfully 
altering a drug test, then we have to consider the circumstances."
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