United Pub. Emps., Local 790 v. City & County of San Francisco

United Public Employees, Local 790 (Local 790) appeals from the denial of its petition to compel the City and County of San Francisco (the City) to arbitrate a grievance pursuant to the governing collective bargaining agreement (the agreement). By this petition, Local 790 sought to arbitrate a grievance concerning the random selection of one of its members, David Turner, Jr. (Turner), a car cleaner for the City’s Municipal Railway (MUNI), for drug testing. After an independent review of the agreement, we concur with the trial court’s conclusion that this dispute was not subject to arbitration.

We base our resolution of this appeal on the preemptive effect of the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act of 1991 (Pub.L. No. 102-143 (Oct. 28, 1991) tit. V, 105 Stat. 952 (the Omnibus Act)), which requires drug and alcohol testing of employees who are required to perform “safety-sensitive” functions in the transportation industry. Federal regulations issued under the Omnibus Act state that employees whose jobs include the operation of transit vehicles are “safety-sensitive” employees who must be subject to testing. Turner was notified that his job classification, transit…