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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmpey 91-03-14 90C539 CAAT (s) L.ql IN THE MATTER OF A CLASSIFICATION ARBITRATION BETWEEN: OPSEU (hereinafter called the "Union") - and - ALGONQUIN COLLEGE (hereinafter called the "College") AND IN THE MATTER OF THE GRIEVANCE OF Eleanore Empey Board of Arbitration: B.A.Kirkwood, Arbitrator Appearances for the Union: B.Allan E.Empey E.Godin Appearances for the Employer: J.Ross G.Yetts K.Thomas The arbitration of this matter was heard in Ottawa on February 12, 1991. Page 2 AWARD The grievor works in the continuing Education, Women's Program at the Colonel Bye Campus. She had been employed with the College since 1976. She was first a Typist- Stenographer 3 in Continuing Education, Applied Arts Academic Upgrading Department and then in 1980, she became a Clerk General 3. In May 1984, the grievor was transferred within the department and reported to the Women's Programs. In June 1986, the position was reviewed and upgraded to Atypical Clerk Payband %6, the position which she now grieves. The grievor claims that she was improperly classified as a Clerk General Atypical (Payband 6) . She seeks reclassification to the position of Atypical Clerk (Payband 7) from October 23, 1989. The parties agreed that I had jursdiction to hear and resolve the issues. They also agreed that the effective date for the purpose of this grievance was October 23, 1989. I received evidence from the grievor, Eleanore Empey and Kathleen Thomas, one of the co-ordinators for whom the grievor worked. There was no material difference in the facts presented by each party. The Union agreed that the Position Description Form (PDF) accurately described the grievor's position with the exception of the description of "Guidance Received". The points conferred by both parties to the elements of the position were as follows: Elements Management Union Rating Points Rating Points Page 3 Job Difficulty C4 144 C4 144 Guidance Received C2 84 D2 108 Communications C3 84 C3 84 Knowledge/Training/ D3 76 D4 90 Experience Knowledge/Skill 3 34 3 34 Working Conditions/ A5 3 A5 3 Manual Working Conditions/ B5 13 B5 13 Visual Environmental A5 3 A5 3 Total Points 441 479 Payband Number 6 7 The parties disagreed with the interpretation of the elements required for the job in the areas of Guidance Received, and Training/Experience and its application to the core point rating. Therefore, the elements and points in issue were: Elements Management Union Rating Points Rating Points Guidance Received C2 84 D2 108 Knowledge/Training/ D3 76 D4 90 Experience GUIDANCE RECEIVED The Union submitted that due to the grievor's decision- making capabilities, Category D is applicable. This Category states: Page 4 Work is performed in accordance with procedures and past practices which may be adapted and modified to meet particular situations, and/or problems. Supervisor is available to assist in resolving problems. The College submitted that Category C is applicable, on the basis that the PDF is an accurate description of the position and illustrates that the grie~or receives direction through guidelines, and policies that have been established. The College submits that the grievor's role is not to modify and amend the policies and procedures, but to relay information that has been provided to her. Therefore, the College submits that Category C is applicable, as follows: Work is performed in accordance with general procedures and past practices, Unfamiliar situations are reviewed with supervisor. Both parties agree that the Nature of Review is properly described as: Work assignments are regularly reviewed by supervisor for completeness and accuracy. The PDF correctly summarizes the grievor's position, in that she "Performs general administrative and clerical tasks necessary for the efficient functioning of all the Women's Program activities which include 4 Continuing Education terms per year, special events, information, referral and recruitment roles. Ensures proper student registration and accounting procedures and activities, provides information and referral within and beyond the College. Provides sole- support staff functions to a job-sharing team and works alone in the office for approximately 25% of the time. A new responsibility (as of May, 1989) is the booking of evening and weekend space at Heron Park campus for the College community." Page 5 At the time of the grievance, the grievor reported to two co-ordinators, each of whom worked on a part-time basis and shared the same office as the grievor. The co-ordinators are responsible for the administrative and academic operation of the Women's Program which operates over 4 terms during the year. As the co-ordinators share the one position, each on a part-time basis, the co-ordinators do not work in the office at the same time. However, when each is working, the co-ordinator and the grievor work in the same office. Much of the grievor's work is to prepare information that the co-ordinator requires. In order that each co-ordinator will know what the grievor has to do and what has been done, most instructions are given to the grievor by the co-ordinators by memorandum. Tke memorandum sets out the tasks to be done, which are checked off by the grievor as the tasks are completed. The memorandum is then returned to the co-ordinator. The co- ordinators may give oral instructions, which may include instructions by telephone from time to time. The co- ordinators determine for the most part what the grievor has to do during the day. The grievor's functions fall under the broad categories of registration, accounting, general, administrative and clerical referral work supporting the Women's Program and referral work, although many functions cross theses artificial boundary lines. The grievor performs assigned tasks required for registration of students and the maintenance of the course system by relying predominantly on pre-existing systems, from maintaining a mailing list of the students, to ensuring the course leaders are paid for their services. Page 6 The process whereby a course is initiated, filled and graded, and for which the course leader is paid, has been established and the grievor follows the procedures already established. The course is initiated when the co-ordinator assigns the course leader, and provides the grievor information on the course. The grievor's duty is then to input the information into the computer and to maintain a list of registrants for the course. To register the student, the grievor has to take information from each student, verifying the student's identification number, if there is one, obtain payment for the course or authorization for payment through an established credit card, enrol the student or place the student on a waiting list. When the minimum registration is reached, the course enrollment sheet is returned to the co-ordinator to be initialed, after which it is directed to the Director of Adult Basic Education, and the purchasing department. When the co-ordinator has approved the course for operation, the course leader is notified by the grievor. Once the co-ordinator has determined the course, at the co-ordinator's direction the grievor makes the lab and room bookings. The grievor is also responsible for sending course leader material to the printer and returning the same to the course leader upon its completion', together with the class list, the evaluation form, a security memorandum, and any other information that the co-ordinator directs. At the conclusion of the course, the grievor ensures that the course leader returns the grades to the office, for signature by the grievor, and the co-ordinator. The grievor is then responsible for forwarding the grades to the Continuing Education Office for the preparation of the transcripts. Page 7 The grievor must also draws upon policies that are established by the Continuing Education Office for the procedure relating to subsidies. Part of the grievor's administrative duties requires the grievor to maintain a series of binders which have been established to retrieve information collated by the department or which have been inputted into the computer. Although the grievor may have established some of the series of binders to make information easily accessible, the co- ordinator has established the contents of key binders. For example, the co-ordinator has determined that the close-out binder contain the forms for each course, the statistical sheet, the class list, the grade reporting form, the subsidies, copies of flyers used to advertise the course. The accounting duties that the grievor must do are also based upon pre-established procedures, The grievor is required to take the Reconciliation Report from the computer and balance it against the payments received, whether by cash, cheque, or credit card. Copies of the credit card slips and deposits are. sent to accounting and information on payments is provided to the Administration, Buildings and Grounds Office. The grievor retains copies of the information provided. For computer related tasks, which are part of the existing systems, the grievor relies upon manuals to assist her. When there are any problems which she cannot resolve with the computer, she turns to a computer specialist for assistance. The grievor has modified and established forms to be used on the computer to make the operation of the department Page 8 more efficient. The forms were then reviewed and approved by the co-ordinator. The grievor is involved in referrals of students and the public to resources related to the Women's Program, within the College, and to those offered by other institutions. As part of those functions, the grievor is responsible for maintaining informative pamphlets in the office. Although the grievor may make suggestions as to which pamphlets are to be offered, the co-ordinator advises the grievor as to what pamphlets must be ordered and has the responsibility for the selection. The grievor is responsible for 'ordering office supplies when necessary. She receives no direction from the co- ordinators in this case. In consideration of the grievor's relationship with the co-ordinator's and the types of instructions that she receives and the documents and the systems that she relies upon I find that the PDF correctly sets out the "Kinds of Instructions" that she receives, the "Document~ed Procedures Available", and the "Regularity of Check and Review of Work". However, the description of the "Typical Problems Usually Referred to a Supervisor" are broader than those usually encountered by the grievor. The only area for which the grievor is responsible, which was set out in the PDF to be referred to the supervisor was to obtain information for women within and beyond the College. A situation which also occurs occasionally, which is an extension of the nature of this duty, is that sometimes the grievor has to deal with men, who are interested in the areas of study covered by the Women's Program, but who are not entitled to be enrolled in the course, because of their gender. The grievor refers the men to other courses to satisfy their interest. Page 9 When considering the evidence and the PDF, I find that the grievor's work is performed in accordance with general procedures and practices. The staff was given hands-on training. It is the standardization of the systems which enables co-ordinators working at different times to be fully aware of the operation of the department, without confusion. Although the Union submitted that the recommendation of the co-ordinators dated March 26, 1985 indicated that the grievor had decision making powers, the evidence indicated that the grievor relied on pre-existing systems, the instructions of the co-ordinator and and required the co-ordinator's approval if changes were to occur. Due to the length of time that the grievor has been working in this position and her own skill and ability, the grievor does not come across many unfamiliar situations. However, it is the position and not the grievor's particular skills and abilities that are the determining factors in the classification of her position. With respect to the position itself, because of the relationship of the co-ordinator's position to this position, the co-ordinator has the responsibility for the grievor's job and the grievor comes to and obtains the co-ordinator's approval for most of which she does. The grievor did modify some of the forms for the computer; however, this was a reflection of her own skills, ability, and motivation to perform a job well. However, it was not a requirement for the position. In the event that there are to be changes to the system system, such as the establishment of new computer forms, the co-ordinator reviews and approves the changes and does not merely assist the grievor. Therefore, I find that category C describes the grievor's position as follows: Page 10 Work is performed in accordance with general procedures and past practices, Unfamiliar situations are reviewed with supervisor. As there is no dispute that level 2 is the appropriate level for the Nature of Review, the effect of the C2 rating to the core point system is to allocate 84 points to the grievor in this category. KNOWLEDGE(TRAINING/EXPERIENCE) Both parties agreed that the minimum level of experience required for the position is up to five years of experience. The parties disagreed as to the minimum level of training required to do the job. The Union submitted that work processing and micro- computer training is not provided at the secondary school level, and that specific computer skills for Word Perfect, the Student Information systems and for accounting and other functions of the department are not provided at the secondary level. Therefore the Union submits that level 4 is the appropriate category to describe the minimum training required to perform the job, which category states as follows: Required skills normally acquired through attainment of secondary school graduation and completion of additional job related training courses or equivalent. The College submitted that the secondary school system teaches the use of calculators, electric typewriters, word processors, printers, appropriate software and accounting and mathematics course provide the basis for the grievor to perform the job. Therefore, the College submits that the minimum training required is level 3 which is described as: . Page 11 Required skills normally acquired through attainment of secondary school graduation or education. The most significant change in the position has come with the introduction of computerized programs. In 1987 the SIS, the Student Information System was implemented. This is a mainframe program used throughout the college for data entry. The grievor is required to both input ~data and to draw upon data as required. She learned this information by courses provided to the staff by the College. The College also uses CUFS, the College and University Financial System, which is a specialized computer program for retaining financial information. The grievor does not input information into this system, but may be called upon to access information stored in its data base. Although the skills required to operate the system are similar to SIS, the grievor, as other staff members, was given training to operate the system. Although the evidence illustrated that computer courses, accounting courses and data base courses are available at the secondary level, I do not find that the evidence indicated that the courses would provide sufficient training to perform the job. Even though the parties agreed that up to five years training on the job was the minimum experience required, on the job training would not provide the grievor with the knowledge required to operate the systems that have been established specifically for the College. Even given the basic skills that are provided at the secondary level, additional training is required to adapt to the College's specialized system. Therefore I find that the Level 4 should be allocated to the grievor's position. As the parties agreed that the level of experience required was level D, D4 rating is to be Page 12 applicable and accordingly 90 points is accorded to the grievor in the Knowledge Category. The affect of the change in this category is to move the total point rating of the grievor to 455, which places the grievor in Payband 7. Therefore, due to the affect of the change in the grievor's Payband, the grievor was improperly classified. The reclassification of the grievor is to be retroactive to October 23, 189. I shall remain seized of jurisdiction in the event the parties are not able to resolve the compensation payable to the grievor Dated at Toronto, this ~h~'day of March, 1991. B. A. Kirkwood, Sole Arbitrator ,C0~-~GE ~gonqut~ I#CUHBENT Elenor Empe¥ "~-" PRESENT CLASSIFICATION AtYvical CXerk . :. ~: ....~.:. ,........ 'qD PAYBAND t6 SUPERVISOR K.~homas : . ,: ~OB F~ZLY ~D PAYED ~QUESTED BY GRIEVOR AtyPical Clerk, Payband $7 ~OSITION DESCRIPTION FORM: Position Description ~orn Attached ~-~ Parties agree on contents of attached Position Description Form [x~ Union disagrees vith contents of attached Position Description Form SPECIFIC D~AI~ OF THIS DISAGREEMENT ~ AS FOL~WS: Guidance is left too broad and doesn't reflect her khey are reviewed. (USE REVERSE SIDE IF NECESS~Y) . AWeD Management Un,on Arbitrator E~MENTS Rating ~s. Rating ~s. Rating Pts. ~IFFI~LTY c-4 144 c-4 144 GUID~CE RECEIVED c-2 84 D-2 CONNIPTIONS C-3 84 C- ~OW~E T~INING/EXPERIENCE . ~- 3 ~0 D-4 90 ; - 3 34 3 34 SKI~ A-5 3 · A-5 3 ' . WO~ING ~AL ~ND~T~ONS VISUAL B-5 13 E~1 RO~ENTAL A- 5 3 A- 5 3 ~ -' ...... ~AL ~INTS 455 455 PAYED ~BER - %7 ~7 ~ The Union ~ The College (Optional) ~. . IGNA~S: ' -' ..... ~ ~. ~.,. ~ ~.:'~ · .e~)~ ~ (~te) (Date) (Date) ~BIT~R~S USE: Feb,12, 1991 *',' .~"-~ .'-' '-' " Hearing Date Awar~ Date