Canadian Labour Reporter

6 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 September 28, 2015 Changes to benefits provider resulted in treatment exclusions, violation of parties' collective agreement. ARBITRATION AWARDS < from pg. 1 company, including several sus- pensions and verbal and writ- ten warnings. That led to a last- chance agreement between him and the employer. On the shift during which Yaremko was fired, the workers had been forced into overtime because of mechanical issues. Crates had been getting stuck in the conveyor and Yaremko was pushing them along, to help feed them through. His supervisor asked whether he needed any help and the griev- or reportedly replied, "This is my job — leave." When the supervisor told him not to speak to him in that man- ner, Yaremko repeated, "I don't give a fuck — it's my job." Yaremko denies that he swore or was angry, though he conced- ed he was frustrated that day be- cause there was no coffee break or rotation that particular shift. The Wholesale and Depart- ment Store Union said Yaremko was distraught following termi- nation — he saw a doctor, was prescribed medication for de- pression and attended counsel- ling for two months. He said he had not been able to find work elsewhere. Based on the employer's evi- dence — particularly an email detailing the incident from the supervisor — arbitrator William Hood leaned towards the em- ployer's version of events. Thus, the actions on that day consti- tuted a breach of the last-chance agreement. Yaremko had agreed to refrain from "engaging in any type of physical confrontation with So- fina Foods employees; using de- rogatory, offensive or otherwise inappropriate language towards employees of Sofina Foods." Therefore, the grievance was dismissed. "The misconduct on the date in question was precisely the in- appropriate behaviour contem- plated in the last-chance agree- ment as being the baseline for the last chance," Hood said. "I see no strong and compel- ling reasons to interfere and sub- stitute a lesser penalty." Reference: Lilydale Inc., and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local S-955. Crystal Norbeck for the union, Keith Murray for the employer. William Hood — arbitrator. Sept. 14, 2015. Grievance addressed after more than a decade After more than a decade, a griev- ance filed by the Kingston Profes- sional Fire Fighters' Association was finally settled. The union claimed the City of Kingston, Ont., failed to maintain extended health-care benefits as required under the parties' col- lective agreement. The grievance was filed during the collective agreement in effect from Jan. 1, 2003, to Dec. 31, 2005, and finally addressed by arbitrator Chris- topher Albertyn in September 2015. The employer's extended health-care benefits — originally provided under the Blue Cross Extended Health Care Plan in the 1990s — became the Liberty Health Plan. The Liberty Health Plan then became part of Maritime Life which eventually became part of Manulife. These changes resulted in a discrepancy between the benefits originally provided to employees (the "base plan") and the benefits currently available to employees (the "later plan"). The parties continued to nego- tiate collective agreements in the subsequent years and were able to address some of the issues cov- ered by the grievance in that time. While the parties were able to resolve issues such as travel cov- erage and dependant coverage, they could not come to terms on coverage for hair growth stimu- lants and for erectile dysfunction drugs. The later plan included exclu- sions for erectile dysfunction treatments and hair growth stim- ulants, as they were not deemed to be medically necessary. The union argued it was not consulted on those changes, nor was there any agreement by the union to any changes. The base plan included cover- age for certain drugs that, before modern erectile dysfunction drugs, sometimes served as treat- ments for impotence. In order to maintain equiva- lence with the base plan the union argued coverage had to in- clude any and all erectile dysfunc- tion treatments, including newer treatments such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. Albertyn agreed, saying, "The erectile dysfunction drugs are prescription drugs so, in the ab- sence of anything more, provided they are prescribed by a physi- cian, they ought to be covered, as they were under the base plan." Albertyn ordered that all members who had been denied reimbursement of the prescrip- tions for those drugs be reim- bursed. Turning to the issue of hair loss treatment, Albertyn found that treatment primarily for cosmetic purpose had always been exclud- ed. Treatment to address a genu- ine medical necessity, however, ought to be covered. "To the extent that such a treat- ment is excluded," Albertyn said, "there has been a change from what existed in the base plan, and that constitutes a violation." The grievance was upheld. Reference: Corporation of the City of Kingston and the Kingston Professional Fire Fighters' Association. Christopher Alber- tyn — arbitrator. Chris Edwards for the employer, Howard Goldblatt for the union. Sept. 4, 2015. No more chances for employee after last-chance agreement, arbitrator says.

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