Canadian Employment Law Today

PM40065782 Emplo y ment Law Today Canad ad a ian www.employmentlawtoday.com August 31, 2016 Employees who traded marijuana plants at work given one more chance AN ARBITRATOR has reinstated two Ontario workers who were fi red for trading marijuana at their workplace. e workers — both in their 50s — were employed with THK Rhythm Automotive Canada, a manufacturer of automotive components for several major car compa- nies with a production facility in St. Cath- erines, Ont. e workers were subject to THK's code of conduct, which stated that "employees reporting 'unfi t' for work, pos- session and/or consumption of alcoholic beverages or illegal substances (i.e. drugs) on company property or during scheduled working hours and break periods" would likely be terminated from employment due to the seriousness of their actions. THK's collective agreement also had a provision stipulating that reporting for work under the infl uence of alcohol or using alco- hol at work would not be tolerated, and re- quired employees to avoid conduct that was not acting in "good citizenship." On April 15, 2016, the two workers were working the afternoon shift at the produc- tion facility. Shortly before 9 p.m., they were seen leaving the building and going to the parking lot. e parking lot was on company property and only open to THK employees and visitors. e workers went to a vehicle owned by one of them, who removed a shopping bag containing two marijuana plants from it. He gave the bag to the other worker and both of them returned to the building, with one worker carrying the shopping bag. Once inside, the workers split up and the one carrying the shopping bag proceeded to an area of the facility that wasn't in use at the time and hid the bag. A supervisor observed the latter worker's trip to the unused section of the facility and, when the worker returned to his work sta- tion, the supervisor went into the empty sec- tion of the facility and found the bag with the marijuana plants inside. Military base worker fi red after aggressive campaign Worker with history of anger issues wouldn't stop harassing co-worker and didn't co-operate with employer's mediation BY JEFFREY R. SMITH A MILITARY CONTRACTOR had just cause to dismiss a worker on a military base in Bosnia for aggressive and intimidating behaviour to- wards co-workers, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench has ruled. e 60-year-old worker was in the military un- til 1983 when he was discharged due to a depen- dence on alcohol that had caused him to get into too many fi ghts. He continued to drink for some time until 1987, when he decided to turn his life around and quit drinking. e worker was hired on Dec. 11, 2000, by Atco, a military contractor that provided com- munications, supplies, and transport at Cana- dian military bases. Two weeks later, he started his employment as a transport dispatcher at Base Black Bear, a Canadian military base in Bosnia. e base was secure and access to it was Supreme Court upholds just-cause requirement for federal workers pg.3 Code's intention is to protect non-unionized workers from arbitrary dismissal CREDIT: 1000 WORDS/SHUTTERSTOCK Court sides with employer in foreign worker wage calculation dispute pg. 4 Confusion over what data to use in calculating prevailing wages ASK AN EXPERT pg. 2 Renewal of independent contractor agreements INTENTION on page 7 » WORKER on page 6 » with Colin Gibson

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