Canadian Labour Reporter

APRIL 14, 2014 6 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 Bus Drivers: $15.50 Bus Drivers travelling to the United States: $16.50 Editor's notes: Union fees: $25 per month. Passengers: Pas- sengers are not permitted without authorisation from the em- ployer. Cellphones: Employees who use a cellphone in the course of their duties receive $10 per month. Medical exams: Employees required to take medical exams outside of regular working hours receive $20. Loss of license: An employee can- not be fired for the loss of his/her license as a result of conduct outside of regular working hours as long as the loss does not exceed a period of 14 months. Birth and adoption: 5 days. The first 2 days paid. Marriage: 1 day for the employee's wedding or the wedding of the employee's children. n COMMUNICATIONS Le Réseau des Sports MONTRéAL (140 operating employees) and the Fédération Nationale des Communications. Renewal agreement: Effective Dec. 9, 2013, to Dec. 31, 2016. Signed on Dec. 9, 2013. Wage adjustments: Effective April 11, 2013: 2% Effective Jan. 1, 2014: 2.25% Effective Jan. 1, 2015: 2% Effective Jan. 1, 2016: 2.25% Shift premium: $4 per hour for all time worked between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. $3 per hour for supervisors. $2 per hour for employees providing training. Paid holidays: 11 days. Vacations with pay: 1.5 days per month worked to start, 15 days after 1 year, 20 days after 7 years, 23 days after 12 years, 25 days after 18 years and 30 days after 25 years. Overtime: Time and one-half. Meal allowance: $48 for shifts of 8 hours or less. $61 for shifts of more than 8 hours. Bereavement leave: 7 days for employee's spouse or child. 3 days for employee's father, mother, brother, sister, grand- parent, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law or a person living permanently with the em- ployee. 1 additional day when employees are required to travel more than 250 km to attend the service. Seniority – recall rights: 1 year. Probationary period: 640 hours. Discipline: Sunset clause is 1,800 hours. Mileage: 46¢ per km. Sample rates of pay (current, after 2% increase): Grade 10: $61,427 rising in 11 steps to $80,671 Grade 9: $58,343 rising in 11 steps to $76,621 Grade 8: $55,853 rising in 11 steps to $73,351 Grade 7: $53,363 rising in 11 steps to $70,081 Grade 6: $49,687 rising in 11 steps to $65,252 Editor's notes: On call: $40 per day. Parental leave: 35 weeks. Marriage leave: 1 paid day. Divorce or separation: 1 paid day to appear in court. Birth leave: 3 paid days. Arbitration Awards Summaries of recent arbitration awards from federal and provincial arbitration boards. For summaries from past issues, visit www.labour-reporter.com for a searchable online archive. Your paid subscription includes unlimited access to the archive. Continued on page 8 Bylaw officer deemed untrustworthy, fired after altering official city documents OUR PERSONAL LIVES seep into our work lives on a regular basis — but one bylaw officer in Kamloops, B.C., took that one step too far and was fired as a result. The grievor — referred to only as Ms. X to protect her identity — was accused and later admitted to fudging a letter of employ- ment she requested from the city in order to apply for a mortgage. While the City of Kamloops terminated her employment on the basis of credibility, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) disagreed, arguing that the particulars of her circum- stances warranted her somewhat reckless action, and a lesser form of discipline was the appropriate route. Ms. X's personal situation was a tumultuous and storied one. Her partner and their three children were being stalked, harassed and bullied by an individual from a previous relationship. Ms. X began to fear for the safety of her family and decided to relocate on short notice. The prospective housing required a letter of em- ployment, so she requested one from the city's human resources department. The situation quickly became muddled. As an on-call bylaw officer, Ms. X was responsible for work- ing with the community to address bylaw complaints, includ- ing collecting evidence, establishing whether an offence has occurred, issuing violation notices and testifying in court under oath. Although her position was technically on-call, she said she worked full-time hours because of overtime, vacation relief and the like. As such, Ms. X at the time did not see anything wrong with altering her letter of employment to read "full-time" as opposed to "on-call." In her view, she believed it would "look better" to her bank whilst applying for new financing for her mortgage, which she so desperately needed. "She panicked as she was concerned that, if she did not ob- tain the mortgage, she would not be able to move her family to safety," the union said. When the City of Kamloops discovered her falsification of the letter, her manager confronted her — with less than satisfactory results. Not only did Ms. X deny that she had changed the com- muniqué, but her attitude was deemed "aggressive" and "defi- ant," according to the city. After a 48-hour suspension, Ms. X was terminated. CUPE filed a grievance on her behalf. For one, the union argued, Ms. X was not aggressive as per- ceived during the meeting. Rather, she had been under high stress because of her mounting personal problems. When asked

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