## Facts

- General Dynamics Convair Division (General Dynamics) and the union were parties to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) barring employees from possessing drugs on company property.
- The MOU required General Dynamics to apply due-process principles of just cause when investigating suspected drug possession.
- Employees were told that, by entering company property, they consented to searches of their vehicles, but the MOU limited vehicle searches to situations supported by “reasonable cause.”
- The MOU defined “reasonable cause” as information, based on facts about an employee’s workplace conduct, that would cause a reasonable person to believe the employee used drugs on General Dynamics property.
- The MOU required a union representative to be present for an inspection.
- The MOU stated that refusal to permit an inspection could result in termination, while also providing that employees could not be forcibly detained or subjected to an inspection.
- General Dynamics received a tip that a bargaining-unit employee had drugs on company property.
- Investigators went to the employee’s car on company property and observed what they believed to be marijuana seeds inside the vehicle.
- Investigators questioned the employee without a union representative present; the employee denied possessing drugs and refused to allow a search of the car.
- Investigators then brought the employee to the car, where the employee spoke with a union representative.
- Investigators warned the employee that continued refusal to permit the inspection could lead to termination; the employee continued to refuse.
- During these discussions, investigators did not tell the employee or the union representative that they claimed to have seen marijuana seeds in the car.
- General Dynamics terminated the employee for insubordination based on refusing to permit the vehicle search, and the union filed a grievance challenging the termination.

## Issues

1. Whether General Dynamics had just cause under the MOU to discharge the employee for insubordination based on refusing to allow a vehicle inspection.
2. Whether General Dynamics met the MOU’s “reasonable cause” requirement before demanding the vehicle inspection.
3. Whether the MOU’s union-representative requirement and the employer’s investigation process affected whether refusal could be treated as discharge-level misconduct.

## Decision

- The arbitrator sustained the grievance.
- The arbitrator found that General Dynamics did not establish just cause to discharge the employee for refusing the vehicle search under the MOU’s limits on inspections.
- The arbitrator concluded that treating the refusal as insubordination warranting termination was not justified on this record, given the MOU’s reasonable-cause and procedural protections.
- The arbitrator set aside the termination and awarded make-whole relief consistent with the determination that the discharge lacked just cause.

## Legal Principles

- When a negotiated MOU conditions vehicle searches on “reasonable cause,” an employer must show a fact-based basis meeting the contractual definition before insisting on a search and disciplining refusal.
- Discharge for refusing a search is not supported by just cause if the underlying search demand does not comply with the agreement’s prerequisites and process protections.
- A contractual requirement that a union representative be present for an inspection is an enforceable protection; bypassing it can affect the fairness of the investigation and the just-cause analysis.
- If an employer relies on asserted observations as the basis for reasonable cause, withholding that basis during the confrontation over consent may weigh against a finding that the employee’s refusal was willful misconduct warranting termination.

## Conclusion

In *General Dynamics Convair Division*, the arbitrator reviewed a discharge imposed after an employee refused to allow a car search requested under an MOU governing workplace drug enforcement. Although investigators acted on a tip and claimed to have seen suspected marijuana seeds, the MOU limited searches to those supported by contract-defined reasonable cause and required union presence and just-cause process protections. Because General Dynamics’s demand for an inspection and its handling of the encounter did not support termination for insubordination under the MOU’s terms, the arbitrator sustained the grievance and set aside the discharge with appropriate make-whole relief.


General Dynamics Convair Division, 95 Lab. Arb. Rep. 500 (1990)