HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-0314.Branch.91-09-20 · f{'".'""'~ ONTARIO EMPLOY~-$ DE LA COURONNE
CROWN EMPL ~)YEE$ DE L'ONTARfO
GRIEVANCE C,OMMISSION DE ,.
SETTLEMENT REGLEMENT
BOARD DES GRIEFS
I 180 DUNDAS STREET WEST, SUtTE,~?O0, TORONTO, ONTAR~. MSO [Z8 TELEPHONE/TEL~PHOr~E: (416)3`26-
[80, RUE D~JNDAS OUEST, BUREAU ~,r~o, TORONTC" (ONTAR/O,~. MSG 1Z8 fiACS~'MILE/T~'LECOP.~E : (4 ~6,~ 3.26-~396
314/89
ZN ~ I~TTER OF ~ ~.B'rTI~TION
Un~e~
T~E C~O~ ~P~E8 COL~~ B~GAINING ~CT
Be~o~e
T~ GRI~CE 8ETT~~ BO~
BE~N
OPSEU (Branch)
Grievor
- a~ -
The Cro~ in Right of Ontario
(Minist~ of Transpo~ation)
~mplo~er
BEPOR~ = M. Gorsky Vice-Chai~erson
M. Vorster Me. er.
H. Roberts Me~er
FOR THE P. Chapman
GRIEVOR Counsel
Ryder, Whitaker, Wright & Chapman
Barristers & Solicitors
FOR THE J. Gallagher
· MPLOYER Counsel
Staff Relations Officer
Ministry of Transportation
HEARING August 15, 1991
DECISION
The Grievor, Ian Brandh, filed a grievance on April 12, 1989
requesting that he be awarded the position of Control Operator AB
at Calabogie Patrol, which was posted pursuant to art. 4 of the
collective agreement in competition ~9-89-06. The Grievor, at
the time of the posting, had been appointed as a seasonal
employee as defined in art. 3.17 of the collective agreement. The
position of the Employer was that the Grievor, as a seasonal and
unclassified employee, could not rely on the provisions contained
in art. 4, which deals with "posting and filling of vacancies or
new positions."
Although counsel for the Union was not urging us to accept a
proposition that the Grievor, if properly appointed to the
unclassified service, had the right to grieve an alleged
violation of art. 4, she did argue that:
(1) The Grievor had been improperly appointed to the
unclassified service and that we should so find.
Counsel for the Union acknowledged that evidence
would have to be tendered to establish this
position.
(2) The Board could fashion a remedy for the Grieuor
even if he was not a member of the classified
service at the time of the posting, provided it
could be established that he had been improperly
appointed to the unclassified service.
Counsel for the Union asked that we first rule on the argument
with respect to (2), above, and hear full argument with respect
to (1), above, only after we had issued an interim award with
respect (2).
2
In the interim dec~sion dated February 28, 1990, the Board
decided that:
only after hearing ... additional evidence on the
question of whether the grievor was improperly
appointed to the unclassified service, as well as
argument on that issue, will we be in a position to
decide the issue of the, relief available to the
grievor, should there be a finding in his favour.
If the grievor succeeds, to the extent that we decide
that he was improperly appointed to the unclassified
service, then we will have to rule on the argument
already presented to us as to the nature of the
additional relief, ~if any, which the grievor wil~ be
entitled to.
On the basis of the interim decision, the Board requested
the Registrar to reconvene the hearing. When the hearing was
reconvened we were requested by counsel for the parties to grant
a recess in order that certain documents which were not
previously available Could be reviewed by counsel for the Union.
When the hearing resumed following the'recess, counsel for
the Union reviewed her position with us that she did not take
issue with the general proposition that art. 4 could not be
relied upon by a person properly appointed to the unclassified
ser¥ice and that the position of the Union was as above stated.
The position of the Union during the hearing of the preliminary
matter was that we find that the Grievor had been improperly
appointed to the unclassified service and if we so found, then a
remedy was available to the Grievor~which would enable the Board
to scrutinize the job competition or to fashion some other remedy
¥
3
in order that relief could be afforded to the Grievor.
The Board did not rule one way or the other as to the remedy
that might be available to the Grievor should he be successful in
establishing that he had been improperly appointed to the
unclassified service. Rather, the Board concluded that it would
be inappropriate for it to rule on this question of remedy before
deciding the issue of whether there had been an improper
appointment of the Grievor as an unclassified employee.
Counsel for the Union advised us, upon examining the
doc. uments produced by the Employer, some of which were only
received on the morning of the reconvened hearing, that she had
concluded that it was now not possible for the Union to establish
a case that the Grievor had been improperly appointed to the
unclassified service. As a result of this concession, as was
indicated in the earlier decision of February 28, 1990: "... a
finding that the Grievor had been properly appointed to the
unclassified service would 'require an immediate holding that the
grievance was not arbitrable .... " As noted above, this decision
does not affect the second issue which we do not now have to deal
with: if the Board had concluded that the Grievor had been
improperly appointed to the unclassified service, did it have the
jurisdiction to fashion a remedy for the Grievor if he was not a
member of the classified, service at ~the time of the posting? In
the interim decision, the Board noted that if the Grievor
4
'succeeded on the first issue, we would then have to rule on the
argument already presented to us as to the nature of the
additional relief, if any, which the Grievor would be entitled
to. In the ci~cumstances, such a decision will have to await the
presentation of a case where suck a ruling is appropriate.
Dated at Toronto, Ontario this 20th day of September,
1991.
'M. R. Gorsky - V~e Chairperson
M. Vorster - Member
H. ?oberts - Member