Canadian Labour Reporter

In April 2012, Stewart was told by his superintendent that he was assigned to clear the plane of singer John, which would be ar- riving at the Lethbridge airport on April 23 for a concert. The su- perintendent told Stewart to be on his best behaviour and not to accept any gifts, including tick- ets. The CBSA was careful with its public image and didn't want its officers to be portrayed as dis- honest. Concert tickets offered after singer's plane cleared After Stewart and another officer cleared John and the rest of his crew, John's personal assistant of- fered them complimentary tickets to the concert. Both officers said they weren't allowed to take them, but when the assistant insisted, Stewart wrote down the assis- tant's phone number. The other officer continued to refuse. Stewart later tried calling the assistant, but he had incorrectly recorded the number. He went to the hangar area but no one was there, so he spoke to the acting superintendent about the tickets. The acting superintendent said if he paid the face value of the tick- ets, it would be different, but he shouldn't accept free tickets. Stewart later admitted he knew he shouldn't continue to try to get the tickets, but his wife was a fan of John and he wanted to take her. They went to the concert venue and Stewart told the box office manager about the complimen- tary tickets, while still wearing a CBSA cap. The events manager met him in the lobby and Stewart explained the circumstances of earlier in the day. John's assistant confirmed the offer and Stewart received the tickets. Their seats were near the stage, and others he knew at the concert told him afterwards that he had appeared on the venue's Jumbo- tron. He felt "some regret" about this because he knew if word got out, it could embarrass the CBSA. The next day, CBSA's district director was told that Stewart had cleared John's plane and accepted complimentary tickets to the concert. A professional standards investigation was conducted, in- cluding interviews of Stewart and others. The investigation determined Stewart had violated the code of conduct. Stewart admitted tak- ing the tickets and apologized, but the fact he actively pursued them after being told not to and wore his CBSA cap to the venue to solicit the tickets made his mis- conduct more serious. The CBSA suspended Stewart for 75 hours — essentially two weeks — with- out pay. Stewart and his union, the Pub- lic Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), challenged the suspen- sion, claiming it was too harsh, as Stewart apologized and acknowl- edged that he shouldn't have ac- cepted the tickets. Stewart also argued it was a spur-of-the-moment decision that he made because his wife was a fan and PSAC argued it was a "blip on his employment record" that only warranted a three-day suspension. Arbitrator Margaret Shannon of the Canada Public Service La- bour Relations and Employment Board found that there was "no question" Stewart accepted a gift that he wouldn't have been offered if he hadn't been assigned to clear the plane as part of his employ- ment as a border services officer. In addition, second-row seats were not of nominal value, regard- less of whether they were compli- mentary. Stewart admitted to being aware of the CBSA code of con- duct prohibiting accepting such gifts in the line of work. Though Stewart apologized for and acknowledged his actions, Shannon found he tried to mini- mize his misconduct by saying it was spur-of-the-moment and oc- curred while off-duty. However, he actively pursued tickets by trying to call the assis- tant and then going to the venue later that evening. And while he was off-duty when he obtained the tickets, Stewart was wearing part of his uniform and he explained to the box office staff that he had been promised the tickets while work- ing at the CBSA, Shannon said. It also didn't necessarily matter that Stewart was off-duty when he obtained the tickets because he was offered them because of his border officer duties, creating a "clear nexus between the tickets and how he conducted his duties on that day," said Shannon. Shannon also noted that Stew- art was a senior officer and any excitement at meeting a celebrity shouldn't have trumped his expe- rience and sense of duty. "(Stewart's) obligations under the code of conduct and the code of ethics were cast aside in favour of his greed and excitement at seeing a celebrity perform," Shan- non said. Noting the potential of Stew- art's actions to embarrass the CBSA, the arbitrator determined the 75-hour suspension was nei- ther unreasonable nor wrong. The grievance was dismissed. For more information see: • Stewart v. Deputy Head (Cana- da Border Services Agency), 2016 CarswellNat 6101 (Can. Pub. Service Lab. Rel. & Emp. Bd.). 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER NEWS < CBSA pg. 1 Officer initially turned down Alberta concert tickets Photo: Dmitry Kaminsky (Shutterstock) "(Stewart's) obligations under the code of conduct and the code of ethics were cast aside in favour of his greed and excitement at seeing a celebrity perform."

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