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Home My WebLink About1987-1686.Thadani.88- -17-- I ON JAflfO EMPLOYESDELA CO”RONNE CROWNEMPLOVEES LJEL’ONrARIO GRIEVANCE COMMISSION DE SElTLEMENT REGLEMENT BOARD DES GRIEFS 180 D”NDAS STREET WEST, TORONTO. ONJARlO. f.450 118. sum 2100 TELEP”ONE/T&4wJNE 780, R”E D”NDI\S O”ESJ, T0R0NT0. ,ONJARIO, M5G 118. B”*EA”*rw ,416,598-O& 1686/87, 1688/87 1689187, 897/88 IN TBE BATTER OF AN ARBITRATION Under THE CROWN ENPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT Before THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD Between: OPSEU (Thadani) Grievor - and - The Crown in Right of Ontario (Ministry of Revenue) Employer Before: M.K. Saltman Vice-Chairperson I. Thomson Member A. Stapleton Member For the Grievor: For the Employer: C. Wilkey Counsel Cornish.& Associates Barristers & Solicitors D. Daniels Staff Relations Officer Personnel Services Branch Ministry of Revenue BOARD ORDER Attached hereto is a executed Memorandum of Settlement which the parties agree would be, made an order of the Board. DATED at Toronto, Ontario this 19th day of December, 1989. M.K. Saltman, Vice-Chairperson I I v I. Thomson, Member A. Stapleton, Member MEMORANDUMOF SETTLEMENT BETWEEN: MINISTRY OF REVENUE (HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS "THE MINISTRY') AND SHEILA THADANI (HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS "THE GRIEVOR) \ ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION (HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS "O.P.S.E.U.") RE: GRIEVANCES (4) OF SHEILA THADANI - "DISCRIMINATION, VIOLATION OF SETTLEMENT" DATED JULY 28, 1987, G.S.B. #1686/87; "HARASSMENT" DATED JULY 28 1987, G.S.B. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL" DATED AUGUST ASSIGNMENT VIOLATES SETTLEMENT" DATED #897/88 The parties hereto agree, on a without prejudice or precedent basis, to the following terms as full and final settlement of the above-captioned grievances: 1. Performance Antxaisal The Ministry agrees to withdraw the grievor's employee performance appraisal covering the period~from July 1, 1986 to July 30, 1987 from the grievor's Branch and corporate personnel files. 2. Personal Cornouter Training [a) The Ministry agrees to continue to provide the grievor with a personal computer located at her work station, 2 subject to bona fide operational requirements. (b) The Ministry agrees ta provide the opportunity for the grievor to attend the following personal computer training courses: . - Introduction to DOS - Advanced DOS - DBase III plus - Intermediate Word Perfect (c) As a component of the grievor*.s training, the Ministry will also make efforts to assign work to her that will allow her the opportunity to utilise the personal computer skills that she is attempting to develop. (d) The Ministry confirms that it encourages the grievor to identify ways in which she can use computer applications in the course of her projects and assignments and agrees to support any reasonable initiatives taken by the grievor in instituting computer applications for her work, taking into account the bona fide operational requirements of the Unit. (e) The grievor agrees~ that it is appropri~ate for the Ministry to make specific suggestions as to which computer applications may be appropriate for a particular assignment, and may, where operational requirements dictate, give i 3 specific instructions. (f) The Ministry agrees that it is appropriate for the grievor to make use of free services of the Technology Demonstration Training Centre for technical advice and.. assistance with respect to implementation of computer applications for.her work, provided such consultation does not unduly interfere with her primary work duties. (g) Paragraph 3 of the Memorandum of Settlement between the parties, dated September 23, 1986 shall cease to operate as of the effective date of this document. (h) The grievor understands that prior to advancing to the advanced DOS course, she must demonstrate reasonable understanding of basic DOS to the satisfaction of Suzanne . Miller, or in her absence another End User Computing Analyst. 3. Interiurisdictional Study The Ministry recognises that the grievor made positive contributions to the completion of the Interjurisdictional Study project. The grievor satisfactorily reviewed a prior inter jurisdictional study and conducted research and analysis in order i 4 to identify jurisdictions, establish criteria and develop a questionnaire which' provided basic data for the study. As part of this process, in consultation with Branch staff, the grievor conducted the first review of literature and identified areas... around which to focus the research. The grievor satisfactorily administered the questionnaire to the selected jurisdictions. She reviewed the data provided in response to the questionnaire and prepared a draft report incorporating results of her preliminary research. She undertook an analysis of the data provided by the jurisdictions. As a result of her review, the grievor was able-to propose to Management a number of areas of interest to Ontario which were ultimately incorporated into the final report. The grievor determined and organised topics and subtopics to be used in the draft report. That structure and format was largely adopted in the final text of the report. The text of the final report was a collaborative effort, including significant original text provided by the grievor as well as modifications and additions prepared by other members of the branch. The project itself, overall, received a very positive evaluation from the project requestor, and received a wide internal and external distribution. - 5 4. Communication& and Workins Conditions The Ministry acknowledges that a misunderstanding existed between management and the grievor during the period covered by the above-noted grievances. In order to avoid similar misunderstandings in the future, the parties are committed to fostering open lines of communication between management and the grievor with a view to providing work conditions conducive to harmony in the work place. To that snd the parties agree: (a) Personal dialogue will be the preferred method of communication and problem resolution in the work place. When operationally possible, the grievor shall make best efforts to personally discuss questions or problems with her ._ supervisor as a first step in resolving work place issues. (b) The Director will, subject to operational requirements, make herself available once monthly to.meet privately with the grievor, upon the grievor's request, in order to discuss any work place concerns. It is not the intention of this section that it should prevent the Director from discussing the Jssuesraised by the grievor with necessary staff, but the Director agrees to respect the grievor's specific request for confidentiality with respect to their conversation, except to the extent that the Director is 6 obliged by Ministry policy or statute to disclose the content of any discussion. The grievor understands that any matters that are dealt with in confidence at her reguest, need not necessarily be acted upon by the Director. This subclause shall cease to operate one year from the effective. date of this Memorandum. (c) Both parties will make every effort to inform each other of problems requiring discussions at the earliest possible date. (d) The Ministry affirms that it is committed to the principle of equality and fairness in the work place. 5. Branch Database The Ministry agrees that the grievor will be assigned to the next project activated in the branch'which involves access to the Branch database. It is understood that the purpose of this assignment would be to provide the grievor with a reasonable opportunity to develop skill and expertise with respect to accessing the Branch database. It is also understood that the grievor would be given access to the database. screens that Appeals Officers, Appeals Clerks, and Jr. Project Officers have access to through their personal ID numbers. It is understood by the grievor that this clause will . not require the Ministry to assign to her any project which requires programming or reprogramming of the Branch database itself. Nor will it require the branch to assign the grievor work involving manual retrieval of data from the Branch database where such retrieval could be completed more efficiently by down-loading the information from the database onto hard copy. However, the Ministry agrees that should a project involving the Branch database be unsuitable only for the second of the two reasons listed above, then it would agree to assign the project to the grievor, and permit her, as a matter of training, to manually access the information required from the database for up to one hour per week, for the purpose of developing the grievor's skill end familiarity with accessing the database. The Ministry agrees to ensure that adequate technical advice and assistance is made available to the grievor in order to assist her to complete this assignment. The Ministry agrees that it is appropriate for the grievor to make use of the free services- of the Technology Demonstration Training Centre for advice and assistance with respect to problems and questions encountered in the course of making use of the Branch database, so long as it does not unduly interfere with her primary duties, and to the extent that the Technology Demonstration Training Centre is able to provide such assistance. The grievor acknowledges that she has primary responsibility for-identifying her specific training needs with respect to the uses of the Branch data base and for initiating specific training requests with.management. * The Ministry agrees that, after this in.itial assignment, it will continue to provide reasonable opportunity for the grievor to continue the development of her skill and expertise with respect to use of the Branch data base subject to bona fide operational requirements of the Branch. 6. Project Preparation and Delivery The parties agree that they are committed to the production of high quality research and planning materials. To this end, the grievor will continue to use recognised principles of project management methodology and the "Project Managing and Reporting Guidelines and Standards" prepared by the Ministry for staff involved with project and assignment work within the Unit. 7. The grievor and O.P.S.E.U. agree to withdraw the above- captioned grievances. 5 ,‘, . i 9 a. The parties agree that this Memorandum of Settlement shall be incorporated into an Order of the Grievance Settlement Board. . DATED at Lk ii , this " day of '1,.x by&. , 1989. \ 1; . .,t; i’ For the Ministry :: ! :i, jj . ik. i_L. .) ‘bi., c^ For the Grievor c; (:” i I_;;-,..: -~,,)/ ._ - For O.P.S.E.U. 2