FAQ's Cases - Stewart McKelvey

“To be honest Tony I don’t know what you are doing here. You’re such agreat landscaper… Why don’t you do thatMr. Castellano told the applicant that he was looking for handouts and that“What do you think, the company will hand you a job because you arehurt”Mr. Castellano questioned the applicant’s medical notes and commented“What is this? What are you going to bring me next… another note formore time? What do you think… we have light duties forever?[80] The applicant testified that he asked Mr. Castellano why he was not helping himand that he was of the view that Mr. Castellano essentially did not believe that he had asignificant injury and that this explained the way in which Mr. Castellano was treatinghim. The applicant testified that he was distraught. He testified that the meeting lastedan hour to an hour and a half.2012 HRTO 1455 (CanLII)[81] Mr. Castellano testified that he did not make the statements attributed to him bythe applicant. He testified that he did ask the applicant about whether he had hurt hisback building his pond on another occasion, on a Monday when the applicant had cometo work and had complained about working on his pond over the weekend and hadasked for modified work. Mr. Castellano denied stating that he would never have hiredthe applicant for his age. He testified that the applicant was a good worker and that theonly time age was discussed was when he was explaining the difference between ageand seniority to the applicant and that older workers were not at a disadvantage inpromotions now that the company was no longer relying on seniority in makingpromotional decisions. Mr. Castellano testified that the applicant raised the issue of notmeeting an expectation to pick 500 items per shift and that Mr. Castellano had assuredthe applicant that not to worry that picking 500 items per shift was a goal, that he hadnever fired a person for low production but that he had spoken to employees whopicking less (for example between 250-300 items) to say that they needed to be moreproductive. He testified that he had spoken to the applicant once, soon after becominga supervisor in 2005 about low production but that this had not continued to be an issuewith the applicant. Mr. Castellano testified that the issue of “handouts” came up in the25