HomeMy WebLinkAboutFord 01-09-28 IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION
BETWEEN:
FANSHAWE COLLEGE
(Hereinafter referred to as the College)
AND
OPSEU
(Hereinafter referred to as the Union)
AND IN THE MATTER OF THE CLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCE OF B. FORD
(OPSEU FILE 01C090 - Expedited)
ARBITRATOR: Gail Brent
APPEARANCES:
FOR THE COLLEGE: Sheila Wilson, Human Resources Consultant
Susan Dobson, Manager, Customer &
Admission Services
Julie McQuire, Human Resources Consultant
FOR THE UNION: Barbara Ford, Grievor
Jean Fordyce, Presenter & Local President
Ursula Rzeznik, Advisor & Steward
Hearing held at London, Ontario on September 24, 2001.
DECISION
This is a classification grievance dated December 19, 2000. The title of the position,
according to the agreed upon PDF, is Registration and Records Clerk. The College has classified it
as Clerk D, Payband 8; the Union is alleging that it should be reclassified as Support Services
2
Officer, Atypical, Payband 10, although the Union also indicated that it would accept Clerk D
Atypical, Payband 10. Neither party raised any preliminary objections or any matter which would
require this matter to be heard by a full board. I will therefore proceed to deal with the grievance.
The parties were very helpful and thorough in presenting the evidence about the duties and
responsibilities of the position. In the interests of time I will not reproduce that evidence, but rather
deal with it in summary form only while stating my conclusions.
The Arbitration Data Sheet signed by both parties indicated that there was an agreed upon
PDF. That sheet also showed that there was disagreement on the following factors (the numbers
shown at the left correspond to those used on the data sheet):
1. Training/Technical Skills
4. Judgement
5. Motor Skills
6. Physical Demand
8. Strain from Work Pressures/Demands/Deadlines
9. Independent Action
10. Communications/Contacts
11. Responsibility for Decisions/Actions
The College rated the job at 520 points (payband 8), and the Union rated it at 654 points
(payband 10).
The PDF placed before me contains the following position summary:
Under the general supervision of the Manager, Admission and Registration Services, the
incumbent is responsible for post-registration processes related for all Continuing Education
students. The incumbent is also responsible for responding to over 3,000 information
requests received annually from applicants, students, former students, and third parties.
Responsible for the processing and record keeping of Academic Offences, Appeals and Code
of Conduct offences. Responsible for the printing of and the dissemination of information
about student tax deduction certificates.
The significant duties and responsibilities are listed below:
32%
Provides custom correspondence in response to over 3,000 requests received annually. The
incumbent must evolve appropriate word processing applications to respond efficiently, yet
with flexibility so responses can be tailored to the customer's needs. The requests generally
relate to applicants, students and former student' s status at the College and usually involve
third parties. The third party can include lawyers, banks, federal/provincial/municipal
government departments, sponsoring agencies, insurance companies, etc. Ensures
information is disseminated in a manner that complies with Freedom of Information
legislation.
35%
Processes grades and grade changes, external and internal credits, prior learning assessment
credits and registrations for thousands of Continuing Education students annually.
Responsible for the integrity of the Continuing Education credit course student registration
data through the Course Withdrawal process. Functions in a key liaison role within
Registrar's Office for all academic divisions offering continuing education courses at all
campuses on issues relating to post-registration processes and advanced credit applications.
Advises Chairs, faculty and support staff in academic divisions on policy and procedural
matters. Generates and issues Continuing Education student ID cards weekly.
20%
Provides excellent customer service in responding to a wide range of records related
inquiries. These inquiries can include Chair and students' queries about grades and appeals,
faculty inquiries about offences and the grading process, students requiring special letters,
and is the primary student contact for information about tax certificates and related fee and
registration data.
2%
Maintains the student academic offence history for the College in a Microsoft Access file
and produces relevant reports.
8%
Acts as a back-up to the Records Clerk position. May perform other duties within
Registrar's Office during peak periods as well as special projects and orienting staff to
function/procedures in Records as appropriate.
3%
Operates printing and bursting equipment to print over 50,000 documents annually. The
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documents include grade mailers and tax deduction certificates.
General Comments
The first step in evaluating aj ob under the classification system agreed to by the parties is to
determine thej ob family by comparing the position to the job family definitions contained in Section
V of the CAAT SUPPORT STAFF JOB EVALUATION MANUAL (hereinafter referred to as the
Manual). That Manual contains the following definitions for the two families which are relevant
here:
Support Services Officer
This family covers positions that perform administrative duties that are functional/project
oriented rather than task oriented and involve conceptualizing, facilitating and project
managing.
Clerk General
This family covers positions that are involved in clerical or business machines operating
either manually or electronically, or in combination with incidental typing or stenographic
duties.
When the central job duties set out in the PDF as expanded upon by the testimony are
compared to the above two definitions, it is my view that the job in question is more accurately
described by the Clerk General definition than by the Support Services Officer definition.
The College reached that conclusion and then proceeded to compare the job to the guide
charts for the four Clerk General classifications contained in Section VI of the Manual. It was the
College' s view that the best fit given the Summary of Responsibilities and Typical Duties was Clerk
General D (Section VI, page 25 of the Manual). Those are:
SUMMARY OF RESPONSIBILITIES:
Incumbents perform specialized senior clerical work requiring the exercise of considerable
judgement.
TYPICAL DUTIES:
· Determines student financial assistance and eligibility.
· Verifies the completeness and accuracy of produced payroll.
· Analyzes statements to determine causes of budget variance.
· Conducts cost analysis studies.
· Processes and controls purchase orders.
· Organizes systems, procedures and paper flow.
· Analyzes problems relating to clerical systems and procedures and recommends
revisions.
· Organizes the clerical activities of activities such as convocation, open house,
orientation, etc.
Based on the PDF and the testimony I heard, the above statements appear to be a "close
approximate" to the position in question, and therefore the classification of Clerk General D does not
seem to be inappropriate. However, since the Union is claiming that this is an Atypical position and
that eight factors have been under-rated, I will also consider those individual factors.
Training/Technical Skills
The College rated this as Level 4, 71 points; the Union as Level 5, 91 points. The agreed
upon PDF requires "Community College certificate or equivalent". That is a one year College
certificate program. Individual incumbents, such as the grievor, may have more education or greater
training or technical skills; however, the system does not rate the incumbent, it rates the position.
Since the parties have agreed that a one year Community College program is sufficient, then the
appropriate rating is Level 4, 71 points and I so find.
Judgement
The College rated this as Level 4, 66 points; the Union as Level 5, 84 points. Level 4 is
described as follows in the Manual (Section VII, page 11):
Job duties require a considerable degree of judgement. Problem-solving involves handling a
variety of conventional problems, questions or solutions with established analytical
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techniques.
Level 5 is described in the Manual as follows on the same page:
Job duties require a significant degree of judgement. Problem-solving involves interpreting
complex data or refining work methods and techniques to be used.
The PDF, at point 4.1 contains the following regarding "the degree of independent judgement and
problem-solving required":
Using college policies and established procedures as the foundation for decisions made,
judgement is required to respond effectively to client situations outside the norm.
Exceptional circumstances are referred to the manager.
It also lists the following at 4.2 as examples:
Deals with distraught or irate applicants, staff, students and parents on a daily basis. Must
interact with these clients in a professional and empathetic manner, yet adhere to College
policies and support decisions made that may not be well received by the client.
Staff throughout the College contact the Registrar's Office on a daily basis for advice on
student related matters. The incumbent may be contacted by Principals, Chairs, faculty or
support staff for clarification of processes, policy interpretation or problem resolution for a
specific student.
The factor definition states that it "measures the independent judgement and problem-solving
required on the j ob. It assess the difficulty in identifying various available choices of action and in
exercising judgement to select the most appropriate action. It also considers mental processes such
as analysis, reasoning, or evaluation." There is no doubt that a "considerable degree of judgement"
is required in the job. The judgement is exercised within the parameters of established policy.
Reading the definitions for Levels 4 and 5 in their entirety, ! agree with the College that Level 4
more closely describes the degree of judgement exercised. The appropriate rating is Level 4, 66
points.
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Motor Skills
The College rates this as Level C2, 22 points and the Union as Level C4, 28 points. Level
C2 is defined as follows at Section VII, page 12 of the manual:
Complex fine motor movement, involving considerable dexterity, co-ordination and
precision is required. Speed is a secondary consideration. Occasional - 10% to 30% of the
time.
The only difference between the parties is the prevalence of the use of these motor skills. Level C4
states that the use of the skills occurs on the following basis:
Frequent - more than 60% of the time
Both parties are agreed on the description of the motor skills. The PDF states that the position
requires the use of a PC to enter and view data. The position also requires that 32% of the
incumbent's time is spent providing "custom correspondence" to meet students' requirements, and
section 5.2 of the PDF indicates that "up to 70%" of the time is spent using the PC. Given the
amount of work done on the PC, and the fact that so much of the job involves the creation of
customized letters either from templates or from scratch, ! find that the prevalence of the use of the
agreed upon motor skills must be more than "occasional". Because the PDF states that the
prevalence varies depending on the work cycle and can be as high as 70% ! am reluctant to classify
the prevalence as "Frequent" because it is not constantly 70%. However, based on the PDF and the
testimony ! consider that "Regular - 31% to 60% of the time" is the most accurate description. !
therefore award Level C3, 25 points.
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Physical Demand
The College has rated it as Level 2, 16 points and the Union at Level 3, 28 points. Level 2 is
defined at Section VII, page 14 of the Manual as follows:
Job duties require some physical demand. There is an occasional requirement for repetition
and/or speed. Employee usually has comfortable bodily positions with flexibility of
movement. Employee uses recurring light physical effort, or occasional moderate physical
effort.
Level 3 is defined at the same page as:
Job duties require regular physical demand. There is a regular need for speed and repetitive
use of muscles. Employee is in uncomfortable or awkward bodily positions for short periods
of time with some flexibility of movement. Employee uses continuous light physical effort,
or recurring periods of moderate physical effort, or occasional periods of heavy physical
effort.
There is no doubt that the j ob is performed in a normal office setting with the sort of sitting, walking,
etc. associated with such a j ob. The greatest degree of physical effort which may not be obviously
associated with an office environment is the printing and bursting operations associated with the
production of income tax forms and grade mailers. The nature of the machines used in this process
involves lifting and bending to a more significant degree than any of the other job duties. The tax
forms are produced once a year and the grade mailers are produced three times a year. A box of
income tax forms weighs 7.5 kgs and a box of grade mailer forms weighs 15.5 kgs. The production
of the income tax forms can involve print runs of several days and the grade mailers are done in one
day. Section 6.2 of the PDF indicates that the 2% of the time is spent operating the printing
equipment and the description of the principal duties and responsibilities states that 3% of the
incumbent's time is spent dealing with the printing and bursting machines in order to produce
50,000 documents over the course of the year. 3% is the equivalent of 1 hour per week according to
the PDF; it would also be roughly the equivalent of 1 lA weeks per year. Given that the maximum the
incumbent would lift at any one time is 15.5 kgs three times a year, I am reluctant to accept the
Union's position that this should be described as "occasional heavy physical effort". Further, the
total definition of Level 3 just does not fit the sort of physical demands of the job. ! agree with the
College that Level 2 best describes the physical demands of the job. ! award Level 2, 16 points.
Strain from Work Pressures/Demands/Deadlines
The College has assigned Level 3, 28 points and the Union Level 4, 39 points. Level 3 is
defined at Section VII, page 17 as:
Job duties involve moderate work pressures or demands. Interruptions, changing deadlines,
multiple demands occur regularly but are usually predictable. Occasionally, critical
deadlines may occur.
Level 4 is defined there as:
Job duties involve conflicting work pressures and frequent interruptions in workflow. Work
situations may be unpredictable with shifts in priorities and occasional critical deadlines.
The factor definition is:
This factor measures the strain associated with, or caused by frequency and predictability of
deadlines, interruptions, distractions and/or workloads, multiple and/or conflicting demands
and/or dealing with people in difficult situations.
The PDF in section 8.1 describes the strain as follows:
The duties of the incumbent involve work pressures associated with a busy office
environment, coincident deadlines during peak times and regular interruptions in workflow.
Work cycles are usually predictable. Regular student and staff inquiries and interruptions
will require the incumbent to prioritized tasks in order to meet deadlines.
Due to staffing levels, during critical peak cycles the incumbent must cope with pressing
computer input requirements, respond to inquiries over the phone and in-person and prepare
massive mailouts.
At section 8.2 in the PDF it is shown that "up to 85%" of the incumbent's time is spent "working
with documents, computer data entry or output" and that 20% of the time is spent on "inquiries",
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both are shown as "Tends to be predictable". Based on the PDF and the testimony I heard, I find
that there is a great deal of predictability in the demands made upon the incumbent in the position.
While no definition of any level is ever going to be completely accurate in capturing the essence of
any factor, I do not think that Level 4 is more accurate than Level 3. I therefore award Level 3,
28 points.
Independent Action
The College has assessed this factor at Level 3, 33 points and the Union at Level 4, 46 points.
Level 3 is defined at Section VII, page 18 as:
Job duties are performed in accordance with general procedures and past practices under
periodic supervision, with occasional periods of Supervisor input or verification. There is
moderate freedom to act independently.
Level 4 is defined on the same page as:
Job duties are performed in accordance with procedures and past practices which may be
adapted and modified to meet particular situations and/or problems. There is considerable
freedom to act independently with Supervisor input or verification when requested.
The factor is defined as follows:
The factor measures the independence of action and decisions required by thej ob. Initiative,
creativity and decisions are governed by various controls. Such controls can be in the form
of supervision, policies, procedures or established practices.
Based on the PDF and the testimony I heard, it is my finding that the incumbent in the
position performs the job in accordance with the strictures imposed by College policies, College
procedures, and legislation (primarily the Freedom of Information Act). The incumbent has freedom
to act independently; however, those actions must be within the framework of the policies,
procedures and legislation. Supervisor input is only sought in exceptional circumstances. In view of
this, I find that Level 3 is a more accurate description than Level 4. I award Level 3, 33 points.
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Communications/Contacts
The College has assessed this factor at Level 3, 88 points and the Union at Level 4, 124
points. Level 3 is defined at Section VII, page 20 as:
Job duties require communication for the purpose of providing guidance or technical advice
of a detailed or specialized nature, or for the purpose of explaining various matters by
interpreting procedures, policy or theory. There may be need to promote participation and
understanding and to secure co-operation in order to respond to problems or situations of a
sensitive nature. Regular involvement with confidential information which has moderate
disclosure implications.
Level 4 is defined as:
Job duties require communication for the purpose of providing basic instruction or for the
resolution of complex problem situations. There may be a need for sophisticated influential
or persuasive techniques in order to address the problem of those with special needs.
Regular involvement with confidential and sensitive information where disclosure
implications are significant.
The Manual defines the factor as follows:
This factor measures the requirement for effective communication for the purpose of
providing advice, explanation, influencing others, and/or reaching agreement. Consideration
is given to the nature and purpose of the communication and the confidentiality of
information involved.
There is also a note advising that the content of information should not be rated but rather
"communications responsibilities involved in handling it".
When the PDF and the testimony are examined it cannot be said that the purpose of
communications in the position is to provide "basic instruction" or to resolve "complex problem
situations". Rather, the purpose of communications is to provide interpretation of College policies
and procedures and to provide basic information or guidance as allowed by law and/or those policies
and procedures. There is nothing in the evidence before me which would indicate a need for
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"sophisticated influential or persuasive techniques in order to address the problem of those with
special needs". All in all, ! consider that Level 3 is the better fit. ! award Level 3, 88 points.
Responsibiliw for Decisions/Actions
The College has assessed this at Level 3, 44 points and the Union at Level 4, 62 points.
Level 3 is defined at Section VII, page 21 as:
Decisions and/or actions have moderate impact on the organization. Errors are usually
detected by verification and review and may result in disruption of the workflow, duplication
of effort, and/or limited waste of resources.
Level 4 is defined as:
Decisions and/or actions have considerable impact on the organization. Errors are detected
after the fact and may result in considerable interruption and delay in work output and waste
of resources.
The factor is defined as set out below:
This factor measures the impact on internal and public relations, the responsibility for
information management, equipment, assets and records, and the consequences of decisions
and/or actions.
The PDF describes the impact of the incumbent's decisions/actions as follows in
section 11.1:
- positive customer service at the first point of client contact results in student
enrolments and revenue for the College
- delays in the production of student grade reports can generate thousands of
unnecessary phone calls to the College, having an impact on College staff resources
- violation of FOI restrictions could result in College liability.
At section 11.2 of the PDF the following is set out as the effect on the College if errors are not
discovered:
Disclosure of erroneous records information could result in legal liability for the College.
That section does not identify the processes by which errors are detected. Based on the evidence
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before me, I would find that errors are detected after the fact and that some can be prevented from
happening by various checks within the computerized systems themselves.
This is one of those typical situations where no one definition completely captures what is
involved in the job. Based on the evidence and the PDF, the impact of decisions made by the
incumbent on the organization may be better described as having "moderate" rather than
"considerable" impact. While I find that errors are usually detected after the fact, the effect of those
errors is, in my view, adequately captured by the Level 3 definitiOn. I therefore award Level 3, 44
points.
Conclusion
My award as s~t out above yields a total of 523 points and confirms the posit:ion as properly
being in Payband 8. I therefore find that the proper classification for the position is Clerk D,
payband 8 (523 points).
DATED AT LONDON, ONTARIO THIS 28TM DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2001.
Gall Brent
ARBITRATION DATA SHEET - SUPPORT STAFF CLASSIFICATION
Present Classification: ~ ~ ~ and Present Payband:.
Job'Family and Payband Requested by Griever: ~ - ~~ ~
1, Position Description Form Attached
2, ~r The parties agree on the contents of The attached Position Description Form
OR
[] The Union disagrees with the contents of the attached Position Description Form, The specific details of this
disagreement are as follows:
(use reverse side if necessary)
FACTORS MANAGEMENT UNION ARBITRATOR
Level Pointa Level Peinte Level Points
1, Training/Technical Skills
3. Complexity
6. Physical Demand
8. Strain from Work Pressures/Demands/Deadlines
9. Independent Action
10. Communications/Contacts
11. ResponsibitiW for Decisions/Actions
12. Work Environment /
PAYBAND~OTAL POINTS
A~ACHED WRI~EN SUBMISSIONS: ~ The Union ' ~ The College
~Grievor) ~
FOR RBITRATOR' : "
(Arbitrator's Signature) (Date' of Hearihg) (Date of Award)
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