Canadian Employment Law Today

Canadian Employment Law Today Canadian Employment Law Today | | 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 More Cases More Cases Worker juggling second job fi red for manipulating time sheet A BRITISH Columbia company had just cause to fi re an employee who punched in incorrect start and leave times for her shift, an arbitrator has ruled. Parveen Gill was a licensed practical nurse for the Fraser Health Authority, fi rst at a general hospital before moving to a home support facility and then the Abbots- ford Regional Hospital in Abbotsford, B.C. In January 2012, Gill became a licensing offi cer in Burnaby and Delta, B.C. Her du- ties included conducting investigations and health facilities and child-care operations, featuring large case loads and independent work. When Gill was hired as a licensing offi cer, she was also working part-time at two other facilities. She eventually resigned from one and continued to work the other — at a home support facility — on week- ends. Licensing offi cers had some fl exibility in the hours if necessary, but if they wanted to vary from their regular hours — such as staying late to fi nish an inspection — they had to advise the manager by email, text or phone call. Changing hours for personal reasons had to be considered depending on the impact to the operations, though some- times licensing offi cers could work of home. Each day, licensing offi cers were required to sign in and out on time sheets, which re- corded hours worked and any changes. In January 2013, Gill's manager in Delta questioned some of the banked time Gill recorded on her time sheets. Gill said she thought she had more fl exibility and said she would be more conscientious, though she was allowed to vary her schedule by small amounts of time or skip a coff ee break so she could leave early. In February 2013, Gill moved to a new licensing offi cer position at the Abbotsford Hospital, but didn't mention the part-time position at the home support facility. In May, Gill's new manager was con- tacted by Gill's manager at the home support facility, who sent the Ab- botsford manager Gill's schedule as a home support worker. Out of 37 shifts on the schedule, 29 started before the end of Gill's licensing offi - cer shift that day. On the others, the home support shift started shortly after a licensing offi cer shift. Gill's new manager interviewed her about the situation in June. Gill asserted she had mentioned the other jobs during her initial inter- view for a licensing offi cer position and thought there was fl exibility to vary hours as long as eight hours were worked. In a sec- ond interview, Gill couldn't explain all the dates, but said she made some errors on the time sheets. She initially agreed to provide her cellphone records but then refused over privacy concerns. e health authority obtained a report from its alarm company to check to see if Gill deactivated the alarms at the times in- dicated on her time sheets that she began work. On seven days her home support shift started before her licensing offi cer shift ended, Gill claimed she started work early so she could leave early. However, on all seven days, another employee deactivated the alarm after the time she said she started work. On some other days, Gill deactivated the alarm but it ranged from three to 22 minutes after her indicated start time. On June 24, 2013, the health authority advised Gill of the alarm code reports and terminated her employment. Gill fi led a grievance, saying when she applied for the licensing offi cer position, the manager was aware of her other job and she had discussed with her other manager about making it work "by shift swaps, leaves of absence or al- lowing her to arrive late" for the home care job. She also reiterated she thought there was fl exibility as long as she worked eight hours. e arbitrator found Gill didn't intend to mislead the health authority about her second job. Although she didn't men- tion it specifi- c a l l y in her initial interview for the licensing of- fi cer job, she didn't try to hide it and had talked to her other manager about accom- modating her licensing offi cer shifts. In addition, Gill had used her manager at the home care facility as a reference. e arbitrator also found Gill was used to fl exibility for small variations in time with her previous manager, which she used to manage the two jobs. However, this still re- quired entries on the time sheet to indicate she was banking time. She did not, and also entered false start time information — and was therefore dishonest with the employer — on at least eight occasions, said the arbi- trator. e false start times were clearly dishon- est and not errors, because Gill was calcu- lating time closely in order to balance her two jobs. If she did it honestly, she would be able to accurately enter her start times "if so desired," said the arbitrator. Since Gill was not a long-term employee, worked in a position that required inde- pendence and a "high element of trust," and the dishonesty was repeated, the arbitrator found termination was appropriate. See Fraser Health Authority and BCGEU (Gill), Re, 2014 CarswellBC 1226 (B.C. Arb.). CREDIT: SCYTHER5/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

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