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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetourneau 91-06-30 IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION BETWEEN: ALGONQUIN COLLEGE (The College) ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION (The Union) AND IN THE MATTER OF THE GRIEVANCE OF MARC LETOURNEAU (~90C636) BOARD OF ARBITRATION: HOWARD D. BROWN, CHAIRMAN W~T.?.Y MAJESKY, UNION NOMINEE W.J. EGNER, CO?3.~GE NOMINEE APPEARANCES FOR THE COLLEGE: .... J. LYNN THOMSON, COUNSEL' CHRIS WARBURTON, DIR. H.R. S. CAI~PBET.T., CON~OI~ BILL McMI?3.AN, ACCOUNTING MGR. APPEARANCES FOR THE UNION: IAN ROLAND, COUNSEL HANK PICCIENO, V.P., L.416 -- M. LETOURNEAU, GRIEVOR A HEARING IN THIS MATTER WAS HELD AT OTTAWA ON JUNE 4TH, 1991. AWARD The grievance arises from a job posting for the position of Clerk General D in ~he Controller' s Department to which the grievor applied, and was unsuccessful. A grievance was filed under the provisions of the collective agreement in' effect between the parties on May 1?th, 1990 by which the grievor claims that the College failed to properly apply Article 17.1.1 of the collective agreement in consideration of his accounting credentials for this position which he seeks. The Incumbent, Ingrid Krieg, was given notice of these proceedings and of her righ= to parti=ipate in the hearing but did not attend. The job posted is as follows: · -Ondar =he ~er~ision of ~h~ O~ra~onal Ac=oun~.tnq ~, ~e Pa~ll s~c~on of ~ ~~g Offal. ~ ~ of ~e ~ pa~, ~f~ca~on of ~u~~, ~g ~ for ~e ~T.~~X S~on~ scAool ~a~c~n --~ ~e~on of ~~ ~c $13.08 ~ $14.52 ~ ~ (a~4--col~ $24,S56 co $27,370 per ~ b~ on a 3~.25 ~ ~k ~). The 1385 Wood,fo Nepal, CO~~z 65-90 noon, 3 ~y 1990. - 2 - The articles of the collective agreement referred to in this dispute are as follows: 1';'.1.1 Consideration -- Bargaining Unit Employees When a vacancy occurs and employees within the bargaining unit at the College apply, the college shall determine the successful candidate based on the qualifications, experience and seniority of the applicants in relation to the requirements of the vacant position, Where the qualifications and experience are relatively equal, seniority shall govern, provided the applicant has the necessary qualifications and experience to fulfil the require- .... ments of the position. .-. The College. need not consider probationary employees. 17.1.2. Job Reversal Where an employee has been selected for a posted vacancy in accordance with the provision herein and it is subsequently determined by the College, after discussion with the employee, within sixty (60) calendar days from his/her assignment to the classification that he/she cannot satisfactorily: perform all of the requirements of the job in question, the College will return the employee to his/her former rate and classification without loss of seniority. Any _ _ further displacement of employees as a direct result of his/her return shall be accomplished by transferring such employees to their former position, rate, and classification without loss of seniority unless otherwise agreed upon and such transfer shall not be the subject of any grievance. With regard to the qualifications listed in the job posting the issue in this matter is narrowed to the requirement of "at least two years in a computerized payroll function." The grievor is classified as a Clerk Supply B in the cafeteria of the College. It was determined by the College that the applicants including the grievor did not have the necessary-qualifications and experience to fill that job and it hired the Incumbent who had been working on contract with the College on the job which was posted. It is the Union's position .that the grievor ~ad equivalent qualifications and the ability to perform the work required given a reasonable period of orientation as reflected in Article 17.1.2 and that therefore he had the sufficient qualifications and experience to perform the work required and as an employee with seniority should have received that job. The position s,,mmary in the position description is as follows: "To prepare payroll documentation for submission to Computer Services and balance output to enable College employees to receive their correct remuneration on a timely basis." The qualification referred to in the job posting is ._ identical to the training and experience factor in the position description. It also includes the following description of the job requirements: - 4 - "The nature of the payroll function requires a level of continual accuracy and dedication well above that of the balance of the finance area. Any errors or problems are identified immediately by the College community when payroll cheques are examined bi-weekly. Processing deadlines are absolutely inflexible and payroll employees will often find that they are working in an environment · of considerable p~essure." This position is the highest level of the Clerk General classification and focuses on the need for accuracy and proficiency as set out above. The grievor has a High School education, a two year diploma at C.E.G.E.P. and two years of a three year B.A. degree course in Administration and Economics. It is admitted that the grievor does not have at least two years in a computerized payroll function and has not been employed in that capacity. The grievor asserts however, that he has the equivalent experience and education and is qualified for this position. The Union does not contest the right of the College to require that experience as part of the qualifications for this position but in its submission the College should not apply a rigid formula of' two years, but should have taken into account the grievor's experience and education which is applicable to the requirements of this job. The grievor testified that involved in his C.E.G.E.P. course he did take Accounting which included payroll and other aspects of accounting in business as well as basic mathematics. He did learn basic payroll functions including employer deductions for benefits and income tax and learned to do those calculations. The Financial Accounting course in his B.A. instruction included - 5 - payroll functions. He has been involved in payroll at a bowling alley operated by his father for two employees on the payroll since September 1989 and twelve employees from February 1990. He said that took about twenty hours per week. He is familiar with computers and had taken a 'computer course in accounting. He had experience as a payroll clerk during his summer employment with Transport Canada and the Ministry of Transport of Quebec in which he prepared time sheets and bank reconciliations. The grievor said he was interviewed for this position for about ten to fifteen minutes and did not think that the interview panel wanted to know much about h~m. He said 'that he has read the duties of the position description and said there was nothing there he could not do. When, however, he was cross-examined on that ', statement with regard to his ability to perform the duties and responsibilities listed in the position description, he admitted he did not have exposure to the payroll at the College and did not know for" example what audit authorizations or temporary adjustments meant. He could not say what adjustments are required for pay entitlement or non pension earnings. He could not state the benefits which are taxable or non taxable and his knowledge from that is taken from his personal pay cheque and not from other __ courses. He said he gave the interviewers the same information as he related at the hearing. He is not involved in payroll in his position at the cafeteria. He has not adminstered benefits but has calculated the deductions for the employees in the bowling business which he took a chart provided by the accountant which set out the - 6 - requisite rates. He entered t/~ose from that chart into the computer in order to calculate the payroll. He was not involved in payroll functions during his summer positions. -.'Mr. Campbell has been in his present position since February'1986 and is a Chartered Accountant and is responsible for all the financial transactions of the College including payroll. There is a Lead Hand and three Clerk B and a part-time Clerk in that section which covers the payroll for about 1200 full-time employees and up to 2500 part-time employees depending on the time of year. The clerks must work efficiently to handle these numbers for the bi-weekly payroll and do not have time. to train others but all in the department are expected to operate diligently in order' to operate the two week cycle. They are required to keep up to date with the tax manuals and data input forms as well as the procedure manual for the payroll system. That, however, does not cover the interpretation of instructions from the Human Resource Department from time to time as to retroactive payments to employees and it isnecessary for the clerks to use their knowledge of the deductions to compute the payroll accurately. Complaints concerning payroll do occur and are made to him and others. There are standard deductions which are applied by the clerks in the __ computer program but there are other exceptions not part of the routine which require knowledge of the clerks to prepare the information to be sent to the Data Centre for the preparation of the cheques. He said that each pay there are about forty of such non-routine matters as well as the differences in the calculations - 7 - for part-time employees pay. He said that they decided to give the grievor an interview when they received the list of candidates for the .position as an opportunity for him to explain his background for this job. The grievor's resume did not include the two year requirement but he said that term is a guideline and is not absolute and they did not want to pre-judge his application. The grievor was therefore provided an opportunity to establish his experience.for this job. After the interview the panel indicated that neither of'the two candidates were appropriate fort his position and that the grievor would not be able to adequately perform the"~ob functions.. The interview panel determined the criteria and prepared questions for the candidates and established a weighting point system to guide them in their assessment of the individual candidate. The evidence indicates that the job requires more than a mathematical ~xercise in the calculation of pay and benefits and includes an.understanding of the payroll process. While the grievor has had some practical and academic exposure to payroll accounting, he has had no experience with regard to the payroll method of the College. It was submitted by the Union that this concern would limit members of the bargaining unit in the application for such positions as candidates could not usually obtain such experience at the College in order to qualify for this type of position. It was suggested therefore, that the terms of Article 17.1.2 should be considered which provides a 60 day ~. familiarization period for an employee such as the grievor who has the potential to perform the work. The Board could give further consideration to the Union's position had the grievor applied for a position placed in a clerks progression in the department rather than at the top level of the Clerk General classification. The grievor may have the potential ability to carry out the job functions satisfactorily but that is not a sufficient qualification f6r this position. In this job it is clear from the position description as well as the evidence of Mr. Campbell, that the Clerk must have the immediate ability to exercise the functions of payroll documentarY'on for the computer services and in that regard it is necessary to have the experience in a computerized payroll function as indicated on the job posting. The candidate must establish that he has the immediate qualifications without training to do the work required in the job posting. If the grievor had established a base of qualifications and experience to perform the work required, then as a member of the bargaining unit and a candidate for this position it could have been found that he had the sufficient ability to perform the work and would be entitled to the position under Article 17.1.1. The grievor, however, failed in that quest as he could not establish firstly, that he had at least two years in a computerized payroll function and secondly, that his education and experience as at the date of the posting was equivalent to that condition which Mr., - 9 - Campbell explained was not absolute but a guideline. That statement indicates some discretion of the College with regard to the application of that part of the qualifications but the employee must persuade, the Board tha% he had equivalent.~e~erience to comply with that qualification which the grievor, failed to do. Indeed the grievor could not respond affirmatively of his knowledge of a number of the duties and responsibilities of the job set out in the position description. ~is academic experience which involved payroll processes did not involve a computerized payroll function at the College or its procedures. We find that the grievor's previous payroll experience in his father's bu-~iness for the period in which he was involved prior to the posting could not be equated with this qualification. We find that the evidence supports the College submission that this is not a routine type position but one with complexities with which the Incumbent must ~mediately be able to deal with that is consistent with the list of the job duties in the position description which are: The above duties clearly indicate that this job requires more than the application of a mathematical formula by the Clerk in the payroll process. We conclude that there is substantial detail work required in this position of the incumbent who must have the present ability to carry out without training. - ll - The protection provided both to the employee and to the College expressed in Article 17.1.2 does not apply in the circ-,mstances of this matter as the employee must _first establish that. he .~s entitled to be Selected for the vacancy in accordance with Article 17.1.1. The grievor-did not satisfy that condition and therefore could not rely on his seniority to claim the posted position. If he had been selected by the College in accordance with that Article, then the College has a period of sixty days to assess the successful applicant with the protection to the employee that if he is found not to be satisfactory for the job, his prevlous wage rate and classification is pro~ected. That clause has a separate function in the filling of vacancies and is subject to and does not qualify the employee's requirement to satisfy the terms of Article 17.1.1. We find on the evidence that the grievor did not establish that he could undertake at the time of the job posting, the payroll functions and perform all of the duties required as set out in the position description. The grievor's education and experience in regard to the requirements of this position is l~mited and is not directly relevant to the process requirements of a Clerk General D. - His academic courses which dealt in part with payroll is not sufficient in total to be equivalent to meet the requirement of two years computerized payroll function. While that qualification is not limited to experience at the College, we find that the grievor's payroll experience prior to the job posting would not, satisfy that condition. The College did give appropriate consideration to the grievor's application for this position based on his resume and gave full consideration to his qualifications for this job at a personal interview at which the grievor said he_ gave the interview panel the s~me information as to' the Board. The panel unanimously rejected his application based on his lack of qualifications and we are not persuaded that this decision was either incorrect or unreasonable. There is no evidence to support the allegation that the interview was provided as a method to get rid of the grievor's jop application or to confirm that he Was not qualified as had previously been determined. Mr. Campbell said the College has encouraged this interview procedure to provide experience to employees in applying for positions- in the College. The fact of providing an interview to the grievor must be viewed in the light of this policy applied to allow an opportunity to employees to progress in the College job system, but it cannot be taken as a method of automatic promotion based on seniority in the bargaining Wit as the employees must satisfy the conditions set out in the collective agreement to qualify for the job vacancies. While the interview process at the College is not at issue in this case, it cannot be taken as conferring status for the job _ because an interview was granted. It is a procedure to allow the College to explore and consider the qualifications of candidates and to make the necessary judgments in accordance with Article 17.1.1. The onus is on the employee to establish that he has the necessary qualifications and experience to satisfy the job requirements. There is no evidence that the grievor was treated unfairly or in bad faith by the College in its consideration of the grievor's application for this position. "'..'~e find that the grievor did not establish that he had the equivalent of at least two years, experience in a computerized payroll function as required in the job posting. For that reason we find that the College correctly rejected his application for this position as the grievor has not met the qualifications for the job. Having regard to all of the evidence a'~d the submissions of the parties, the Board finds that the Union did not establish that the College was in violation of the terms of the collective agreement as alleged. Therefore, it is the Board's award that the grievance is dismissed. DATED AT OAKVILLE, THIS ~u DAY OF JUNE, 1991. HOWARD D. BROWN, CHAIRMAN W~LT~Y MAJESKY, UNION NOMINEE W.J. EGNI~, CO~.?.EGE NOMINEE