FAQ's Cases - Stewart McKelvey

Page 36 4. The Grievor preferred working in the Produce Department and was part of a small teamwho maintained the Department to a high standard.7 5. He did not like the cashier work in part because it took him away from what he regarded ashis "real work" in the Produce Department.8 6. He had taken the cashier training course but had not passed the exam. Notwithstanding hispoor results on the exam, he had been assigned cashier duties on a regular basis for approximatelytwo months since completing the cashier training.9 7. On July 23, 2010 the Grievor began his shift at 2:30 in the afternoon. When he arrived hisco-workers in the Produce Department were just leaving for lunch. The Produce Department hadbeen fully staffed in the morning and was in good shape. There were some tasks which the Grievorplanned to complete however he was immediately assigned to perform cashier duties for the afternoon.10 8. He encountered a problem with his first customer. He was unable to get the cash registerto ring in two bunches of asparagus. The code was printed on an elastic band around each bunchand he entered it twice. Each time the cash register made a beeping noise to notify the operator thatthe item had not been charged to the order.11 9. The customer was a long term Safeway employee who knew the code for asparagus andthat it is sold by weight not by the bunch. He also knew that the cash register could not accept thecode because the Grievor had not put the asparagus on the scale. The customer told the Grievor toput the asparagus on the scale and enter code 4080. Instead of doing so, the Grievor simply baggedthe asparagus and put it in the customer's shopping cart without entering it in the cash register.12 10. The customer again asked the Grievor to scale the asparagus and to enter the code 4080,this time the Grievor looked to the right and then to the left, put his finger to his lips and said"shhhh, it's alright".13 11. This was not acceptable to the customer. He took the asparagus out of the cart, removedit from the bag and put it on the scale. He again directed the Grievor to enter the code 4080 andwhen the Grievor did so the amount of $5.90 was recorded on the customer's bill. The customerpaid for his grocery order and left the store.14 12. This incident concerned the customer and before leaving the parking lot he telephonedhis wife, who is also a Safeway employee and happened to be at that store interviewing prospectiveemployees. He advised her what had just happened and the information was passed on to the storeManager.15 13. Less than an hour later the customer got a call from a Safeway security employee whoasked him to write out a statement and send it to him. The customer did so and emailed his statementto the security employee.16 14. The next day the Grievor was interviewed in the presence of his Union Steward. The interviewwas recorded and the recording and a transcript of the recording were in evidence at thehearing.17 15. The Grievor did not initially recall the transaction however when confronted with detailsof the incident, he did not deny any of the essentials.