Canadian Labour Reporter

8 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2017 ARBITRATION AWARDS January 2, 2017 precisely or the chemical compo- sition would become downgraded and unsuitable to use. Veley's supervisor that day was Jeff Papi, who discovered the error that shift and further investigated the cause. He determined the er- ror began during Veley's shift and the bad batch ended up travel- ling through the processing sys- tem for six hours. Since the error originated with the first batch, it potentially contaminated all fol- lowing batches. Papi advised Veley of his find- ings, but Veley said he was sure he followed the standard operating procedures and he always mea- sured twice to ensure accuracy. When the company made the decision to suspend Veley for one day, it argued this was the third time an error was made by him that resulted in company down- time: One on Dec. 14, 2014, re- sulted in "20 hours of off standard product." It said Veley was not in- tentionally making errors but he needed to "to bring the appropri- ate level of care and attention to executing his work." Veley testified he began his double-measuring routine after he previously missed adding po- tassium bicarbonate, which re- sulted in a bad batch. The Kingston Independent Nylon Workers' Union said Ve- ley's error on May 21 may have been due to a contaminated batch of potassium bicarbonate that went into the first batch, but Papi countered and said other batches included material from that barrel and showed no bad readings. Again, Veley insisted there was "no chance" he made an error. The union argued Papi didn't properly test the chemical com- position to confirm Veley added incorrect amounts. Instead, Papi found anomalies with the dif- ferential pressure reading that he used to indicate faulty measure- ments on Veley's part. Arbitrator Derek Rogers agreed with the company's argu- ments about who was at fault on May 21. "I am satisfied that the differential pressure shift oc- curred and that it was due to the introduction of a bad batch made up by (Veley). I am also satisfied that the concern was of sufficient magnitude or significance to war- rant a decision to downgrade the resultant product and not to re- lease it for integration in automo- tive air bags." The argument that the potassi- um bicarbonate was contaminat- ed was also dismissed by Rogers. "There was no evidence to sup- port the theory that the remnants of a barrel of potassium bicarbon- ate was in some way responsible for the differential pressure shift that was experienced for several hours on the grievor's shift," he said. "Veley did not challenge the employer's position that the same potassium bicarbonate had pro- duced yarn with no quality con- cern before the grievor mixed his first batch." Veley's previous history was one of the determining factors for Rogers to uphold the suspension and dismiss the grievance. "Veley has had a documented history of committing uninten- tional mistakes. He had received a written warning that referred to two instances of his engaging in process errors and cautioned him about the need to devote care and attention to the performance of his duties," said Rogers. Reference: Invista Canada, Kingston Site, and Kingston Independent Nylon Workers' Union. Derek Rogers — arbitrator. Robert Little for the employer. Ernie Schirru for the employee. Dec. 7, 2016. B.C. dairy plant worker improperly uses sick leave A Saputo dairy worker in Abbots- ford, B.C., asked for time off to at- tend his daughter's birthday din- ner — but his request was denied. Roger Little had been working since 2010 as an electrician. On May 2, 2014, he asked Dave Sand- er, plant manager, for time off May 24, so he could attend his daugh- ter's birthday dinner. On May 9, Sander denied the request because dairy production operated on a strict schedule, with limited downtime. Sander testi- fied that Little asked if he could invoke a family responsibility day. But Sander said B.C. family re- sponsibility day legislation did not apply in this case. On May 23, Little said a 2011 shoulder injury flared up after he carried a piece of equipment while on duty. He finished the shift and went home, but did not notify anyone about the injury. On May 24, he said the soreness was worse and he called in sick. When Sander learned on May 26 of the absence, he set up an in- vestigative meeting and on June 4, Saputo issued him a one-day sus- pension. On June 17, Little requested four hours' standby time and four hours' call-back time at double time for a shift, but the time sheet was challenged by Sander. He tes- tified that the work should have been completed within two hours and he didn't authorize standby pay, which was so rare that Sander said he never heard about it hap- pening in his 10 years at the plant. Little was told to modify the timesheet, but he completed a new one with no changes. After an investigation, the com- pany decided to terminate his em- ployment on June 27, citing past discipline (including vandalism of a company poster in 2011) and the sick leave incident from May. In arguing that the termination should stand, the company said it found 50 instances of inconsistent statements and Little's "evidence is contrary to common sense, is self-serving, reflects a highly se- lective memory, and there are a number of embellishments or statements that are unbelievable." Saputo said the sick leave inci- dent could be considered fraud and the standby pay request could be construed as time theft. The International Associa- tion of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, lodge 1857, argued a grievance was filed for the sick leave case but was not yet heard before the June termination. It said Little believed he was entitled to standby pay under the collec- tive agreement and this showed he was not attempting time theft. The union said the company has a process whereby time sheets were reviewed and if a claim for overtime or standby pay was not allowed, it wasn't paid out. Arbitrator Michael Fleming found Little's May 24 behaviour troubling. "(He) should have been keen to speak to Sander given the striking coincidence of his injury on the day he had been actively, but unsuccessfully, attempting to find a way of taking off." The absence was not "due to a legitimate need for sick leave, but rather was a decision to take the day off notwithstanding that his request had been denied earlier, claiming a re-injury to his shoul- der as the cause," said Fleming. "I find this constituted an abuse of sick leave which under this agree- ment constitutes misconduct." The June 17 incident was more clear-cut, said Fleming. "(Little)'s conduct reflects a falsifying of time records and is captured by the concept of time-theft." And combined with the sick leave is- sue, it was a culminating incident. "It is difficult to conclude that, under all the circumstances, he could return to the plant and for the employer to have any confi- dence that he could be a trustwor- thy employee," said Fleming. The grievance was dismissed. Reference: Saputo Foods and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Lodge 1857. Michael Fleming — arbitrator. Peter Csiszar for the employer. Paul Pelletreau for the employee. Aug. 19, 2016. < Chemical pg. 1 Correction: The arbitration involving Western Grocers and Teamsters Local 987, in the Nov. 7, 2016, issue, should have said the arbitrator ordered the company to back pay the employees to 30 days prior to the grievance being filed in October 2014. And Preston Quintin's name was misspelled. We apologize for the errors.

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