Discipline and Discharge - Stewart McKelvey

Discipline and Dischargerecall if she had actually accessed the files ofanyone she knew. However, the audit revealedthat she accessed patient files of people sheknew on several occasions, although she statedshe never looked for information by name. Thearbitrator noted that the program only allows foraccess to patient files by name. The grievortestified that she was accessing the informationin order to learn; her intent wasn’t malicious. Forexample, she accessed particular patient files ifthey had an interesting diagnosis. Interestingly,the grievor had signed a new confidentiality formon April 29, 2011 in which she agreed thataccessing information not required for jobpurposes would be a violation of theconfidentiality policy. The grievor testified thatshe hadn’t read the agreement before shesigned it.What the arbitrator said: Discharge upheld.The arbitrator concluded that the grievor hadviolated employer policies, legislation and theCollege of Nursing standards. Although thegrievor didn’t ever disclose the information sheaccessed or misuse it in any way, the arbitratorfound that the employer had just cause fordischarge.National Art Centre and Hospitality & ServiceTrade Union (Ozcan Ilaslan)What happened: Grievor was hospitalityemployee who refused work in a specific area ata banquet in front of other employees. Thebanquet captain asked the grievor to leave, whoinstead chose to work in another area for theduration of the shift. A meeting was scheduledwith the grievor and the union representative todiscuss the incident. The grievor didn’t attend. Aone-day suspension was imposed. This wasn’tthe first incident of this nature. The employersent a letter reminding the grievor that hecouldn’t refuse work normally done by allbanquet servers. Further, if he required specificaccommodations to provide a doctor’s noteindicating what functions could be performed.The letter also advised of the one-daysuspension and that further instances would because for further discipline. The grievor wassubsequently disciplined for absenteeism. Then,in June of 2009, the grievor was scheduled towork five shifts. As a result of an injury, he wasunable to work these shifts and provided adoctor’s note to the health and safety officer. Hereturned to work the following week and advisedthe banquet captain that he could work modifiedduties only, but didn’t have a doctor’s note to thiseffect. The banquet manager sent him homewith pay. The health and safety officersubsequently advised that the grievor was to beon modified duties for that week. The grievorwas concerned that the accommodation requiredwouldn’t be respected. The health and safetyofficer assured him that his limitations had beendiscussed with the manager. The grievor wasscheduled for three shifts the following week, butdidn’t report to work for these three consecutiveshifts and didn’t inform the employer that hewould be absent. The employer unsuccessfullyattempted to contact him by telephone. Thegrievor was terminated from his employment byway of letter the day following the last scheduledshift that was missed. The grievor claimed heattempted to contact the manager, but thealleged calls were made on the weekend anddays when he ought to have known she wouldn’tbe at work to receive those messages. Thegrievor had previously been disciplined for failingto show up for scheduled shifts and ought to- 3 -