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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWickham 91-11-06 IN ~HE MATTER OF A CLASSIFICATION ARBITRATION BETWEEN : OPSEU (hereinafter called the "Union") - and - CENTENNIAL COLLEGE (hereinafter called the "College") AND IN THE MATTER OF.. T_~E GRIEVANCE OF B~ruce Wickham: Board of Arbitration: B.A.Kirkwood, Arbitrator A~pearances for the Union: R. Sinclair L. Goldin B. Wickham Appearances for the Employer: J. White T. Massey The arbitration of this matter was heard at Scarborough on Oct.7, 1991. Page 2 ' AWARD The incumbent assists the College in admitting students to Aircraft ~alntenance, Avionics Maintenance, Automotive Technician 2~ Heavy Duty Equipment Mechanics and Marine Small Powered Equipment programs. The nature of his job is two fold. He organizes and administers the admissions and registration procedures for students into the programs, and respond~ to inquiries made by the public, the applicants, and the students about the programs offered by the College and the admissions procedures° In October 1990, the incumbent ' s position was reclassified from a Clerk General C at Payband 5 to a Clerk Atypical at Payband 6, after the Human Resources Department and the Support Staff Job Evaluation Committee reviewed the incumbent's new position description form (PDF). The PDF was again amended by the College during the grievance procedure in April 1991. The Union agreed that the'most recent PDF accurately described the grievor's position with the exception of the description of the guidelines available to assist the incumbent in the exercise of his job duties. The points conferred by both parties to the elements of the position were as follows: Elements Management Union Rating Points Rating Points Job Difficulty C3 122 C4 144 Guidance Received C3 104 D3 129 Communications B3 59 C3 84 Knowledge/Training/ D4 59 D4 90 Experience Page 3 Knowledge~Skill 3 34 3 34 Working Conditions/ A5 3 A5 3 ~anual Working Conditions/ B4 10 B4 10 Visual Environmental A5 3 A5 3 Total Points 425 497 Payband Number 6 7 The Union disputed the College's evaluation of the level of judgement required under' Job Difficulty, the guidelines required under Guidance Received and the purpose of the contacts under Communications and their respective application to the core point rating system. The particular areas and points in issue were: Elements Management Union Rating Points Rating Points Job ,Difficulty C3 122 C4 144 Guidance Received C3 104 D3 129 Communications B3 59 C3 84 The Union's representative submitted that the College improperly classified the grievor and sought reclassification of the grievor's position to the Clerical Job Family, Payband 7 retroactive from October 24, 1990. JOB DIFFICULTY - Judgement Required The Union agreed with the rating of the complexity of the job. The Union's representative submitted that the incumbent used considerable judgement in deciding what students were to be admitted and in evaluating the English Page and Math results. Therefore the Union submitted that level 4 was appropriate. Level 4 states: Duties performed required a considerable degree of judgement. Problem-solving involves handling a variety of convent~.~nal problems, questions or situations with established analytical techniques° The College submitted that the grievor exercised judgement, but any substantive decision on the admissibility of a student was made by the College and not by the incumbent nor the~supervisor. Therefore, the College's representative submitted that moderate judgement was applicable and the position was properly described by Level 3. Level 3 states: Duties require a moderate degree of judgement. Problem- solving requires the identification and breakdown of the facts and components of the problem situation. The incumbent evaluates each application for admission to determine whether it meets the requirements set out in the school calendar. Various situations may present themselves. If the criteria is met, the incumbent advises the student of his or her acceptance in order of the date of application. If the requirements are clearly not met, the incumbent advises the application of the rejection. If it appears that there ~is some doubt whether the applicant has the appropriate qualifications, the incumbent may require the applicant to provide proof of the qualifications or he may give the applicant acceptance, conditional upon the presentation of proof of qualifications. If the application indicates that the applicant's qualifications do not fall squarely within the criteria, set by the College, but the applicant may possibly be acceptable to the College, the incumbent advises the appropriate department. He may provide the Chairperson or the Registrar with his perception of the applicant's capabilities, but it is the Chairperson, the Registrar or the Academic Advisory Page 5 Committee'~Who decides whether the College should accept the applicant, not the incumbent. If the applicant is a mature student or an international student, the incumbent directs the applicant to testing for English and mathematical skills. The incumbent reviews the results of the tests and matches the results against the benchmarks that the College has established for acceptance. The incu.mbent then advises the applicant whether the applica~~ion is accepted or rejected, wait listed or whether further courses must be taken before acceptance. Although the PDF describes the incumbent's duties to "decide" the admissibility of students and to "evaluate" the test scores, the incumbent's decision making powers are limited to accepting those who meet the criteria. The incumbent must be knowledgeable about the College's criteria and have extensive knowledge of the secondary school credit system. The incumbent must also be knowledgeable about previous education systems and credits in Ontario as the College accepts student who are 19 years and over as mature students. Knowledge of the systems or the results as opposed to judgment is required in determining if an applicant is accepted. Similarly, a combination of knowledge and judgement is required to determine whether a student can be given advanced standing. In this s~tuation a student has already done some courses and seeks .advanced standing. The incumbent's duty is to ensure that the application is complete and includes the appropriate documents that verify the applicant's standing in the completed Courses. He must be knowledgeable about the courses and some judgement is required to assessing the documents. However, as the incumbent does not make the decision whether advanced standing can be given, he cannot Page 6 exercise .: considerable judgement when cgnsldering the student's application~ Judgement involves the exercise of discretion. In determining the degree of judgement exercised, the guidelines within which the incumbent must operate affects the degree of judgement he'can exercise. As the criteria for acceptance of an applicant is established by the College and the incumbent has no authority to accept a student who does not meet the criteria, the degree of judgement exercised when determining whether an applicant is acceptable to the College is limited. Some judgement is required to determine if an applicant falls on the borderline and may be acceptable upon further examination. However it is the Academic Advisory Committee or the Chairperson who has the discretion to accept or reject those applications who do not clearly fall within the College's criteria and therefore it is the Academic Advisory Committee or the Chairperson who exercises considerable judgment when reviewing these applications. Similarly, the Academic Advisory Committee or the Chairmen considers courses taken by applicants in other jurisdictions to determine whether the courses have the requisite content to enable the applicant to pursue his or her studies at the College. The incumbent does not use considerable judgement when deciding whether a student is to be categorized as an international student or as a refugee. A "foreign student" must fall either into' the category of an international student or a refugee. Claimants for refugee status must have entered the country by a specific date and have made a claim 'by a specific date. The criteria is set by the Canada Immigration Act and not by the incumbent. The incumbent determines whether the criteria is met from the registration Page 7 form. If there is any ambiguity in the documents, the incumbent has to contact the Immigration Department. · The incumbent does not have the discretion to determine whether an is a refugeeor an international student. The incumbent took upon himself the responsibility to determine the admissibility of foreign students. The incumbent reviewed applicants' documents on prior courses taken and evaluated those documents to see whether they complie~ with the requirements. Although the incumbent may have taken on the responsibility for the acceptance or rejection of these students, it was clear that it was not within the scope of his position as all discretionary matters in this area fell to the responsibility of the Chairperson or the Registrar. The College did not rely on the incumbent to perform these tasks, and the system was in place for persons other than the incumbent to approve these applications before processing them any further. Although a person may exercise responsibilities that are not part of the position description form, those responsibilities do not then become part of the duties and responsibilities expected from the position. ~he incumbent's roler in part, is to convey information on the courses and the system to students and to the public. He maintains contact with the support staff and student services to determine what programs are offered, where they are located and what changes may occur.· The incumbent assists student who are changing their programs or who are adding or dropping courses by advising them on the procedures set out in the procedural manual or the College calendar. The incumbent is not able to change a student's courses without the prior authorization of the academic advisors. He is only able to change the student's timetable to accommodate the student if it is merely allowing the student to take the same course at an alternate time. He refers them to the Page 8 Registrar~ the Chairperson, or the academic advisors when a change has to be made. The incumbent also responds to student complaints and advises them on the appeal procedure. Therefore, although the incumbent may respond to questions which the students may ask, any advice which alters ~he student's course of action must be confirmed and approved by the academic advisory body or the Chairperson. To know how to convey the information to the inquirer requires the exercise of some judgement particularly in difficult situations. The PDF refers to "leadership and post application activity...converting an applicant into a registrar." "Leadership" in the context of this position implies that the incumbent must represent the College well and, using the terminology of the College, provide good customer service to the applicant. It requires handling people who may not be successful applicants, or who must withdraw from their courses for varying reasons. Handling the applicant or student in these situations requires moderate judgement, as the incumbent must represent the College in a professional manner, even though he does not have the power to alter the applicant or the student's course of action. Therefore, due to the criteria which has been established by the College, within which the incumbent must act, I find that the incumbent requires a moderate level of judgement in exercising his duties and accordingly level C3 with a core point rating of 122 is applicable. GUIDELINES AVAILABLE The Union agreed with the College's rating for Nature of Review, but submitted that the Guidelines Available were properly described by Category D. Category D states: Page 9 Work':is performed in accordance with procedures and past practices which may be adapted and modified to meet particular situation and/or problems. Supervisor is available to assist in resolving problems. The Union submitted that the PDF specifically states that work is "guided by general and specific procedures, and in some cases by general practice. The incumbent has some leeway to adapt procedures in response to a particular situation." Therefore when applying the PDF Level D is applicable. The College's representative submitted that there is little or no leeway to adapt or modify admission criteria and therefore Level C is applicable. Level C states: work is performed in accordance with general procedures and past procedures. Unfamiliar situations are reviewed with supervisor. Guidelines Available is a broad term and refers to that which an employee can rely on for assistance. The Union submitted that the PDF ought to exclude the Ministry's guidelines, as they were merely providing background information, and the CONNECTIONS Customer Service Program, as it was a professional development program. In order for the incumbent to operate effectively and without error, the incumbent has to have a very broad knowledge of the courses taken by the students before they enter the College, and of the courses offered by the College. He has to be familiar with school calendars. Therefore although the Ministry's guidelines may be informative in nature, they provide the necessary assistance to the incumbent to allow him to determine if the applicant is qualified. Therefore I am satisfied that these guidelines are properly included in the PDF. Page 10 The CQNNECTIONS Customer Service Program can serve both as an item of professional development and as a guideline to behaviour and attitudes required in ~sponding to the public. As customer service is a fundamental p~rt of the incumbent's job, the CONNECTIONS Customer service Program is properly included in the PDF. Neither Level C nor Level D describe the incumbent's use of the ~uidelines available exactly. However, I find that level .C is a closer description. The incumbent organizes and administers the admissions and registration procedure. He processes the applications and inputs information on the students into the computer. These procedures were in place and the role of the incumbent is to administer the system. When considering the applications, which was a primary aspect of the incumbent's job, the incumbent had no leeway to change the procedure for their assessment.. If the applicant was an international student, the.applicant had to be tested on English and Math skills. The applicant had to reach a certain benchmark for the application to be accepted. If there was any ambiguity or doubt, the incumbent had to process the application by forwarding the application to the Chairperson, the Registrar or the Academic Advisory Committee for approval. He had no leeway to change this process. The PDF was wrong when it suggested that the incumbent had some leeway to adapt procedures in response to particular situations. The Union submitted that the PDF incorrectly stated that there were day by day checks on the incumbent's work in progress° The PDF was wrong in this regard° The incumbent performed his work for the most part on his own. He had to refer to either a supervisor, the Chairperson, or the Registrar when an application did not meet the criteria set Page 11 by the Cdllege. Although it is not accurate to say that these were unfamiliar situations which had to be reviewed with the supervisor, it is more consistent'with the meaning of "guidelines available" that the incumbent had to review these situations with management. personnel' before processing the application. Any change in the procedure could not come from the incumbent's actions. Therefore, as the incumbent does not have the flexibility to change the processing of admissions, I find that the Guidelines are best described by Level C and accordingly by the application of C3 to the core point rating system the incumbent is awarded 104 Doints in this category. COMMUNICATION, Purpose of Contacts The Union submitted that C3 is applicable as the incumbent provides guidance to the students and does not merely explain the processes to the students. The union also submitted that the incumbent handles inquiries in French. Therefore the Union submitted that Category C is applicable. Category C states: Work involves contacts for the purpose of providing guidance instruction or technical advice or for the purpose of explaining various matters by interpreting procedures or policies. The College submitted that the incumbent does not interpret policies and procedures, although he provides information about them. Therefore the College submitted that Level B is applicable. Level B states: Work involves contacts for the purpose of providing detailed explanations to ensure understanding on matters such as how information was collected or how a figure was calculated. Page 12 Frendh is an asset for the incumbent to have and it expands the number of people with whom the incumbent can communicate effectively, it no doubt enhances the College's image, by offeriag a FrancophQne the ability to communicate in French. However, when considering the purpose of the contacts~ the French language does not change the purpose of the communications, but offers the same resource to a larger number of people. Therefore the use of French cannot be considered as a factor when considering the purpose of the contacts~ The purpose of the contacts that the incumbent has when communicating with the Chairperson, the Registrar and to a much lesser extent, the Dean is to provide them information which he.has. As discussed more extensively under the heading of Judgment, the incumbent advises the students on the processes available and provides information 'that is also found in the College calendar. The PDF specifically clarifies the nature of the incumbent's role when it states, "Responding to student (cust'omer) queries which demand interpretive knowledge of the province's high school system, the Ontario college system, the College's many diverse programs, admission procedures, registration procedures and the new SIS student and course database system." Due to the volume of information that is at hand, and which must be assimilated and construed in a consistent manner, I find that the PDF accurately describes the nature of the incumbent's job when responding to inquiries. Therefore, I find that interpretation of the information is required when the incumbent assesses the information and conveys that information to the inquirer° A difference between Level B and Level C is that Level B explains a situation by the reliance on facts, and does not Page 13 require t~e interpretation of material to obtain those facts. The employee whose functions fall under Level B is more of a conduit of information than an employee whose functions are d~scribed by Level C. A Level B function includes passing on technical information, while "technical advice" in Level C includes the. weighing of information° In order that the incumbent can provide the information to the inquirer, he must weigh the information and make suggestions to the inquirer.. Although I find that the incumbent provides technical advice to the inquirer, I do not find that his role is to counsel the student, as that role has been given to the Academic Advisors, who must approve any course changes. Therefore, as level C provides alternative purposes for the contacts, I find that the incumbent has contact with the students to provide them technical advice and to explain' their status, or the procedures to be followed by interpreting the procedures and policies. Therefore I find that Level C3 best describes the purpose of the incumbent's contacts and therefore 84 points are awarded in this category. TRAINING I confirm that the parties resolved the evaluation of the Training prior to the hearing and agreed that D4, with the core point rating of 90 points was applicable. Page 14 In Summary, as I find that the College correctly assessed the Judgement and the Guidelines available, the only change to the evaluation of the position is in the Purpose of Centacts. By the application of this award, the incumbent has a total of 450 points and accordingly there is no change in his Faybando Dated at Toronto, this 6th day of November, 1991. B. A. Kirkwood, Sole Arbitrator ~ ~.~w~', ua~A mn~.'f - SUPPORT STAFF CL~a. SSIFICATIONS PRESENT C~SSIFICATION AND PAYBAND JOB F~ILY AND PAYBAND REQUESTED BY GRIEVOR POSITION DESCRIPTION FORM: 1. Position Description Form Attached 2. ~-~ Parties agree on contents of attached Position Description Form OR. ~ Union disagrees with contents of attached Position Description Form SPECIFIC DETAILS OF THIS DISAGREEMENT ARE AS FOLLOWS: AWARD Management Union Arb it rator ELEMENTS Rating Pts. Rating Pts. Rating Pts. JOB DZFFICU~TY ~ } 1~2 C q Ihq c3 122 GUIDANCE RECEIVED C ~ I 0~% 9 I Z9 c3 ~ o~ co~u~c~T~o~s ~ % ~ C 3 8~ c3 WORKIN~ "-