HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-0557.Policy Grievance.04-01-02 Decision
Crown Employees Commission de ~~
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Board des employes de la
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GSB#2001-0557 2002-0050 2002-0321
UNION#OLB132/01 OLB096/02,OLB327/01
IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION
Under
THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT
Before
THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD
BETWEEN
Ontano LIqUor Control Boards Employees' Umon
(PolIcy Gnevance) Grievor
- and -
The Crown In RIght of Ontano
(LIqUor Control Board of Ontano) Employer
BEFORE Nimal DIssanayake Vice-Chair
FOR THE UNION Craig Flood
Koskie Minsky
Bamsters & SOlICItorS
FOR THE EMPLOYER Gordon FItzgerald
Counsel
LIqUor Control Board of Ontano
HEARING September 30 and October 7 2003
PRELIMINARY DECISION
The Board lS seized with three grlevances, all
related to an Attendance Review Policy (hereinafter "the
policy") implemented by the LCBO at its Durham Logistics
Facility The first lS a policy grlevance wherein the
. .
unlon grleves
The unlon objects to the employer's attendance
reVlew process (also known as the mandatory Q
11 ) The process lS unfair, unreasonable and
arbitrary and lS a violation of the collective
agreement, articles 2 1, 9 and any other
applicable articles and statutory provisions
The other two grlevances were filed by an employee,
Mr Joe Sousa, claiming that the employer had contravened
articles 2 1 and 9 and any other applicable clauses of the
collective agreement by subjecting him to the policy
At the commencement of the hearing the parties
raised two preliminary lssues This decision deals with
those
Union's request that a grlevance filed by Mr Robert
Browning be heard together with these grlevances
3
Mr Browning has filed a grlevance stating
"Article 2 1 (b) Discrimination and harassment as defined
In the OHRC and any other applicable clauses In the CA and
OLRA" While the grlevance makes no reference to the
Attendance Review Policy, there lS no dispute that the crux
of Mr Browning's grlevance lS that the employer's
application of the policy to him was In contravention,
inter alia, of the collective agreement and the Human
Rights Code The unlon requests that this grlevance be
heard together with the policy grlevance and Mr Sousa's
two grlevances The employer objects to the request
The employer agreed that under the Labour Relations
Act and the Grievance Settlement Board Rules of Procedure
-
the Board has the power to order that grlevances be heard
together In appropriate circumstances See Re Toronto
District School Board (2002 ) 109 LAC (4 tll) 20 (Shime)
However, it took the position that In the particular
circumstances of this case it was inappropriate to make
such an order
The unlon submits that the three grlevances before
the Board, as well as the Browning grlevance, arlse out of
the same employer policy While the facts In the Browning
4
case may not be identical, all four grlevances ralse common
lssues such as discrimination on the prohibited grounds of
handicap, and unjust discipline The parties are the same
and they ralse the same provlslons of the collective
agreement and legislation In all four grlevances In the
circumstances, counsel submits that it lS efficient and
expeditious to ]Oln the Browning grlevance In this
proceeding Counsel admitted that while the remedies
ordered In favour of the individual grlevors may be
different, the Board can bifurcate remedial lssues as it
commonly does and proceed to determine liability In all
four grievances in one proceeding
Employer counsel submitted that the Board ought to
exerClse its power to order that grlevances be heard
together only where such an order results In efficiency
According to counsel, In this case the test of efficiency
lS not met He contended that Slnce Mr Brown's grlevance
arlses out of the actual application of the grlevance to
him and its impact on him, it may involve medical evidence
and evidence relating to the employer's duty to
accommodate That evidence will be specific to Mr
Browning Counsel's maln concern was that as a result of
5
this "grievor-specific" evidence, there may be a delay In
obtaining a decision in the other three grlevances
In Re Dresser Canada Inc (1987 ) OLRB Rep Oct
1243 at para 8, the OLRB reviewed the purpose of and
applicable considerations for hearing cases together as
follows
8 Strictly speaking, the effect of consolidation
lS to fuse two or more proceedings into one
Accordingly, consolidation will only be
appropriate In circumstances where there lS an
identity of parties and lssues In two or more
proceedings The term has come to be used
somewhat more loosely so that "consolidation" may
be appropriate where the parties and lssues are
substantially the same Technically, it lS more
appropriate, In such circumstances, that the
matters be "heard together" rather than
"consolidated" When matters are heard together,
they retain their individual identities but the
evidence and representations of the parties with
respect to all matters In lssue In all the
proceedings are heard at one time by one trier of
fact and law Hearing matters together can be a
useful alternative to consolidating them into
one, where the circumstances are such that
consolidation lS inappropriate but the practical
. . make it desirable to have the matters
eXlgencles
proceed together The object of either
consolidating a number of proceedings, or have
them heard together, lS the same, that lS, to
save expense and avoid a multiplicity of
proceedings Underlying these practical
6
concerns are legal considerations, namely, the
parties involved and the lssues raised In the
varlOUS proceedings In question Where the
parties and lssues are not substantially the
same, it will generally not be appropriate or
particularly useful to either consolidate the
varlOUS proceedings or have them heard together
It lS trite to say that it will not always be
obvious that two or more proceedings should or
should not proceed together and the Board, as
master of its own procedure, has the discretion
to determine the manner In which matters brought
before it will proceed
I have concluded that it lS appropriate to hear the
Browning grlevance together with these grlevances All
grlevances are between the same unlon and employer and the
focus of each lS on the same policy No arbitrator has
been appointed to hear the Browning grlevance Hearing
grlevances together avoids duplication of expenses
Moreover, there lS the potential that if these grlevances
are heard In different proceedings, it may result In the
Boards reaching conflicting and inconsistent conclusions
While it lS likely that the Browning grlevance will involve
additional evidence relating to the application of the
policy to the grlevor, I do not agree that such evidence
will necessarily be irrelevant to the other grlevances On
the contrary, that evidence may assist the Board In
7
understanding the real impact of the policy on employee
rights It may provide a factual context for the legal
lssues Moreover, at this time I have no knowledge as to
how brief or extensive the medical evidence In the Browning
grlevance will be To the extent that there lS grlevor-
specific evidence relating to Mr Browning's remedial
claim, that need not delay the lssuance of a decision In
the other matters If such evidence lS lengthy, it lS open
to either party concerned about delay to move that the
liability lssues and remedial lssues be bifurcated On an
overall assessment, the benefits resulting from hearing all
of the grlevances together far outweigh any adverse
consequences of doing so Therefore, the Board orders that
the Browning grlevance will be joined and heard together
with the other three grlevances Any lssues relating to
the most efficient process of doing so may be determined at
the instance of either party
Jurisdiction to reVlew exerClse of management rights for
reasonableness
As part of this lssue the parties disagreed as to
whether or not the policy was disciplinary, and if so,
whether it exposes the whole policy to arbitral reVlew In
my Vlew it lS not appropriate to determine as a preliminary
8
matter, whether or not the policy lS disciplinary on the
basis solely of the language used In the written policy A
much more informed decision can be made after the Board has
heard evidence as to the application and administration of
the policy on individual employees Therefore, that lssue
should be argued and determined after all of the evidence
has been tendered, and not as a preliminary matter
The parties have properly raised In a preliminary
way, the lssue of the Board's jurisdiction to determine
whether or not the employer had acted reasonably when it
exercised its management rights to create the policy The
dispute lS whether the Board had such jurisdiction In the
absence of an allegation that the employer's action was
contrary to or inconsistent with some specific prOVlSlon of
the collective agreement or a statute It lS the
employer's position that a simple allegation that a policy
lS "unreasonable" lS not one that comes within the Board's
jurisdiction As employer counsel put it, for the Board to
get jurisdiction the allegation must have "a hook" to some
prOVlSlon In the collective agreement or statute He went
so far as to submit that as long as it lS not contrary to a
prOVlSlon In the collective agreement or statute the
9
employer lS not obliged to exerClse its management rights
reasonably
It must be made clear that the unlon has In fact
alleged that the Policy conflicts with the collective
agreement In a number of ways, and further that the policy
contravenes the Ontario Human Rights Code The employer
agrees that those lssues are properly before the Board
However, the preliminary lssue has arisen because the unlon
has taken the alternate position that, even if no specific
prOVlSlon of the collective agreement or the Human Rights
Code has been contravened, the board ought to strike down
-
the policy on the grounds that it lS an unreasonable
exerClse of management rights The employer takes the
position that this particular collective agreement does not
requlre that management rights be exercised reasonably or
that employer policies must be reasonable Since the Board
lacks jurisdiction to amend or add to the collective
agreement, counsel submits that by introducing a
"reasonableness requirement, the Board would be exceeding
its jurisdiction
The collective agreement that governs the rights
and obligations of these parties does not include a
10
management rights clause Nevertheless, the unlon did not
dispute that it lS a legitimate function of the employer to
implement a policy designed to manage absenteeism In the
workplace See Re B C Railway Co 1982) 8 LAC (3d) 250
(Hope) It's complaint lS that the employer has exercised
that management function unreasonably
The parties referred me to a large number of court
decisions and arbitration awards The arbitral
jurisprudence represents an attempt by arbitrators to
reconcile what appears to be conflicting and inconsistent
pronouncements by the Ontario Court of Appeal In its
judgments In Re Metropolitan Toronto Board of Com'rs of
Police and Metropolitan Toronto Policy Asso et al (1981) ,
124 D L R (3dO 684 and Re Council of Printing Industries
of Canada and Toronto Printing Pressmen and Assistants'
Union No 10 et aI, (1983 ) 149 D L R (3d) 53
What lS no longer controversial lS the principle
that the employer has a duty to act reasonably In
exerclslng its management rights, where such a duty lS
required, explicitly or implicitly, to glve effect to
employee rights explicitly recognized In a collective
agreement Arbitrators have expressed this proposition In
11
different ways For instance, In Re Westin Harbour Castle,
(1991 ) 23 LAC (4th) 354 (R M Brown) it was held that a
duty to act reasonably should be implied where it lS
necessary "in order to harmonize management rights with
rights accorded to employees elsewhere In the collective
agreement" In Re Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto
(1991 ) 19 LAC (4 tll) 287 (Davis) it was stated that a duty
to act reasonably should be implied "only where it has been
necessary to avoid a conflict with, or undermining of
rights conferred by some other provlslon In the specific
collective agreement" Consistent with this case law, the
employer conceded that the Board has jurisdiction to deal
with the union's allegation that the policy lS In conflict
with various provisions of the collective agreement
The more contentious lssue is whether a duty to act
reasonably may be implied even when it lS not necessary to
avoid conflict or inconsistency with employee rights
accorded elsewhere In the collective agreement The unlon
relied on a line of cases that had interpreted the decision
in Re KVP Co ( 1965) 16 LAC 73 (Robinson) . .
, as lmposlng a
general requirement that any rule promulgated by the
employer In the exerClse of its management rights must meet
a test of "reasonableness" It lS the Board's Vlew that a
12
notion of such a general implied duty to act reasonably lS
no longer tenable after the clear pronouncement by the
Court of Appeal In the Police Com'rs case The better
interpretation lS that the Board's requirement In Re KVP
that the rule must meet a test of reasonableness was made
In the context of the just cause requirement In the
collective agreement See, B C Railway Co (1982 ) 8
LAC (3d) 250 (Hope) and Re Central Park Lodge Ltd ,
(2000 ) 91 LAC (4 tll) 403 (Ellis)
The decision In Re McKellar General Hospital,
(1986) 24 LAC (3d) 97 (Sal tman) contains an excellent
reVlew of the relevant case law I can do no better than
to quote at length from that decision at pp 103-109
The question of whether or not the requirement of
reasonableness ought to be implied into a
collective agreement has been the subject of
considerable arbitral and judicial debate In
1975 the Ontario Divisional Court issued a
decision In the case of Re Municipality of
Metropolitan Toronto and Toronto Civic Employees'
Union, Local 43 et al (1977 ) 79, D L R (3d)
249, 16 o R (2d) 730 (the "Metropolitan Toronto"
case) , which appears to have accepted the notion
that management lS bound to a so-called "duty of
fairness" In the exerClse of its management
rights Following the Metropolitan Toronto
decision, a large body of arbitral jurisprudence
was developed which held that management was
13
bound to act fairly and reasonably In the
exercise of management rights
Subsequently, the notion of a superadded "duty of
fairness' was rejected In the case of Re
Metropolitan Toronto Board of Com'rs of Police
and Metropolitan Toronto Police Ass'n et al
(1981) , 124 D L R (3d) 684, 33 o R (2d) 476, 81
C L L C para 14,116 ( leave to appeal to S C C
refused D L R loc Cit , 39 N R 499n) (the
"Metropolitan Toronto Police" case) In that
case, the grlevors alleged that they had been
denied the opportunity to participate In the
annual inventory on an overtime basis In a manner
which was arbitrary, discriminatory, unfair or In
bad faith The collective agreement contained no
express prOVlSlon dealing with the assignment of
either overtime or inventory work Accordingly,
the matter fell to be determined under the
management rights clause which provided, among
other matters, that it was the exclusive function
of management to "manage the operation"
Following the authority of the Metropolitan
Toronto decision, the arbitrator held that the
employer was bound to exerClse its management
rights fairly and without discrimination and,
therefore, that the employer violated the
collective agreement by unfairly denying the
grlevors the opportunity to participate In the
annual inventory on an overtime basis
An application for judicial reVlew was filed In
the Ontario Divisional Court However, the
Divisional Court did not decide the matter and,
under the authority of s 35 of the Judicature
Act, R S 0 1980, c 223 (repealed 1984, c 11,
14
s 187) , referred the matter for determination to
the Ontario Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal
held that where management has the exclusive
right to determine how it shall exerClse the
powers conferred under the management rights
clause, the exerClse of these powers cannot be
challenged solely on the basis that they were
made unfairly or In a discriminatory manner At
p 687 D L R , pp 478-9 o R , the court said as
follows
In our oplnlon, the management rights
clause glves management the exclusive
right to determine how it shall
exerClse the powers conferred on it by
that clause, unless those powers are
otherwise circumscribed by express
provlslons of the collective agreement
The power to challenge a decision of
management must be found In some
provision of the collective agreement
Having regard to the nature of the
agreement, and to its prOVlSlons, we
see no necessity In this case to imply
a term that the management rights
clause will be applied fairly and
without discrimination If such a term
were to be implied, it would mean that
every decision of management made under
the exclusive authority of the
management rights clause would be
liable to challenge on the grounds that
it was exercised unfairly or
discriminatively In our oplnlon, this
15
would be contrary to the sprit and
intent of the collective agreement
Following the Metropolitan Toronto Police case,
the Ontario Court of Appeal had further occaSlon
to consider the exerClse of management's
discretion In the case of Re Council of
Printing Industries of Canada and Toronto
Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union No 10 et
al (1983) , 149 D L R (3d) 53, 42 o R (2d) 404,
83 C L L C para 14,050 ( leave to appeal to
S C C refused 52 N R 308n) (the "Council of
Printing Industries" case) , the collective
agreement required the company to "permanently"
classify 34 employees, thereby making them lmmune
from lay-off The grlevance arose because the
unlon claimed that the company violated the
grievors' seniority rights In permanently
classifying five of these employees The
arbitrator held (Re Photo Engravers &
Electrotypers Ltd And Toronto Printing Pressmen
& Assistants' unlon, No 10 (1980) , 25 LAC
(2d) 88 ) that the job security rights of
employees permanently classified by the company
under art 22 of the collective agreement were an
exception to the seniority rights provided by
art 6 of the collective agreement and In effect
abridged the seniority rights of employees not so
classified He further held that because of the
fundamental importance of seniority rights under
the collective agreement, the company must
exerClse its discretion to permanently classify
employees In a reasonable manner, without
discrimination, bad faith or arbitrariness The
arbitrator's decision was quashed by a decision
of the Divisional Court (unreported) , which was
16
ultimately set aside by the Court of Appeal In
restoring the decision of the arbitrator, the
Court of Appeal made it clear that it was not
dealing with the exerClse of management rights
under the management rights clause (as had been
the case In the Metropolitan Toronto Police case)
but with the exerClse of management's discretion
under art 22, a substantive prOVlSlon, In light
of the collective agreement as a whole As a
result, the court declined to interfere with the
arbitrator's determination that management was
bound to exerClse its discretion under art 22 In
a manner which was not arbitrary, discriminatory,
unreasonable or in bad faith
Numerous arbitration awards have been written In
an attempt to reconcile the apparent conflict
between the decisions In the Metropolitan Toronto
Police and Council of Printing Industries cases
Some arbitrators have held that the decisions can
be explained on the basis of a distinction
(referred to by the Court of appeal In the
Council of Printing Industries case) between the
exerClse of management's discretion under the
management rights clause and under a substantive
prOVlSlon of the collective agreement See Re
-
Royal Ontario Museum and Ontario Public Service
Employees' Union (1983) , 12 LAC (3d) 207 (P C
Picher) , Re City of Windsor and Ontario Nurses'
Assoc (1985) , 19 LAC (3d) 1 (McLaren)
Other arbitrators do not accept this distinction
see Re McKellar General Hospital and Ontario
Nurses' Assoc , association grlevance on the
employer's nepotism policy (August 24, 1984),
unreported (Beatty) (reported 15 LAC (3d) 353)
the "McKellar Hospital" case) , Re Toronto East
17
General Hospital and Service Employees Union,
Local 204 (1984) , 13 LAC 93dO 400 (Burkett)
(the "Toronto East General" case) , Re Great
Atlantic & Pacific Co of Canada Ltd and Bakery,
Confectionery & Tobacco Workers Union, Local 264
(1984) , 18 LAC (3D) 44 (Burkett)
In the McKellar Hospital case, the association
challenged the employer's anti-nepotism policy,
which prohibited the employment of family members
In the same department or unit on the grounds,
among others, that the policy was unreasonable
The employer submitted that the arbitrator lacked
jurisdiction to determine whether or not the
policy was unreasonable as the exerClse of
management rights was not subject to the test of
reasonableness After revlewlng the decisions In
the Metropolitan Toronto Police and Council of
Printing Industries cases, the arbitrator
rejected the distinction made by the Court of
Appeal In the Council of Printing Industries case
between the exerClse of management's discretion
pursuant to a management rights clause and the
exerClse of management's discretion pursuant to a
substantive prOVlSlon of the collective agreement
and held that the same considerations apply to
both To the extent that the Court of Appeal
held that different considerations apply, the
arbitrator held that the two decisions cannot be
reconciled Preferring to follow the decision In
the Council of Printing Industries case, the
arbitrator concluded that the standard of
reasonableness applied to the exerClse of
management's discretion to promulgate plant rules
and policies under the management rights clause
18
In The board's Vlew, the distinction made by the
Court of Appeal In the Council of Printing
Industries case between the exerClse of
management's discretion under the management
rights clause and under a substantive prOVlSlon
of the collective agreement cannot be entirely
ignored Firstly, weight ought to be glven to
the fact that the court expressly stated that it
was making this distinction Secondly, the
distinction lS consistent with the theory that a
party to a collective agreement lS bound to
administer its obligations under the agreement In
a reasonable manner See Re Int't Nickel Co of
Canada Ltd and U S W Local 6500 (1977) , 14
LAC (2d) 13 (Shime) , Re Royal Ontario Museum
and Ontario Public Service Employees' Union,
supra, whereas no similar theory would appear to
apply to the exerClse of management's discretion
under the management rights clause However,
even if there lS no distinction between the
exerClse of management's discretion under the
management rights clause and under a substantive
prOVlSlon of the collective agreement, the
different conclusions In the Metropolitan Toronto
Police and Council of Printing Industries cases
can be understood In relation to the test for
implying a term into the collective agreement
In essence, the test holds that an arbitrator (or
board of arbitration) has the power to imply a
term into a collective agreement if two
conditions are met
(1 ) if it lS necessary to imply a term in order to
glve "business or collective agreement
efficacy" to the contract, In other words,
19
In order to make the collective agreement
work, and
(2 ) if, having been made aware of the omlSSlon of
the term, both parties to the agreement
would have agreed without hesitation to its
insertion
See Re Kennedy Lodge Nursing Home and Service
Employees Union, Local 204 (1980) , 28 LAC (2d)
388 (Brunner) , Re Orenstein & Koppel Canada Ltd
and Int'l Assoc of Machinists, Local 1740
(1976) , 12 LAC (2d) 417 (Brunner)
In the Metropolitan Toronto Police case, the
court expressly stated that the test for the
inclusion of an implied term had not been met
More particularly, at p 687 D L R , P 479 o R ,
the court said "we see no necessity In this case
to imply a term that management rights will
be applied fairly and without discrimination"
(emphasis added) By way of contrast, the
implication arlses from the decision In the
Council of Printing Industries, case that the
arbitrator was of the Vlew (1 ) that the insertion
of the implied term of reasonableness was
necessary to glve "business efficacy" to the
collective agreement, l e , to ensure that valued
seniority rights under the collective agreement
would not be eroded, and (2 ) that the parties
would have agreed to the inclusion of the term
had they put their minds to it
This latter approach to the exerClse of
management's discretion lS consistent with the
Vlew taken In the Toronto East General case In
that case, the arbitrator was required to
determine whether there was In implied
20
restriction on the employer to act reasonably In
the exerClse of its function to lay off
employees After considering both, the
arbitrator concluded that the decisions In the
Metropolitan Toronto Police and Council of
Printing Industries cases can be understood by
reference to the general principles of contract
law and, more particularly, to the rules relating
to implied terms and not to any doctrinaire
distinction between the exerClse of management's
discretion under the management rights clause and
under a substantive prOVlSlon of the collective
agreement At pp 407-8 of the decision, the
arbitrator's reasonlng lS set out as follows
In our Vlew the attempt to distinguish the
judgments of the Court of Appeal In Council
of Printing Industries of Canada, supra,
from that of Metropolitan Toronto Board of
Com'rs of Police, supra, on the basis that
the latter case deals with the exerClse of
a management discretion under a management
rights clause while the former deals with
the exerClse of a management discretion
found elsewhere In the agreement lS an
artificial distinction which mlsses the
point A closer reading of Metropolitan
Toronto Board of Com'rs of Police, supra
and the arbitration awards that were under
reVlew In that case makes it clear that the
Court of Appeal was concerned with the
importation into a collective agreement of
"a general rule, that all decisions of
management pursuant to a management rights
clause which do not contravene any other
provlslons of the agreement must stand the
further test of whether In the oplnlon of
21
the arbitrator they were made fairly and
without discrimination" (p 687 D L R , P
478 o R ) In the face of these words, we
must adopt the interpretation of the
Metropolitan Toronto Board of Com'rs of
Police judgment expounded by arbitrator
Swan In Re Meadow Park Nursing Home and
Service Employees Int'l Union, Local 220,
supra (1983) , 9 LAC (3d) 137 (Swan)
(which preceded the judgment of the Court
of Appeal In Re Council of Printing
Industries of Canada, supra) , which focuses
on the court's prohibition of the
importation of a general rule which lS not
supported on the language of the agreement
The awards reads (pp 140-1)
"What the Metropolitan Toronto
Police decides, In our respectful
Vlew, lS simply that arbitrators
exceed their jurisdiction if they
purport to establish general
principles for the administration
of collective agreements divorced
from the language negotiated by
the parties In the matter before
them, and that they commit errors
In law if they purport to treat a
judgment of the courts, refusing
to interfere with an arbitration
board on the basis that it did
not glve collective agreement
language a meanlng which it could
not reasonably bear, as binding
expositions of the general law
Unfortunately, many arbitrators,
and indeed some courts, have
22
turned the rationale of
Metropolitan Toronto Police
upside down, and have taken it
instead to mean that there can
never be implied into a
collective agreement a duty to
exerclse a management function or
prerogative In accordance with
tests of fairness or
reasonableness The Metropolitan
Toronto Police case does not and
cannot alter the law of
contractual interpretation, every
allegation that an employer lS In
breach of the collective
agreement must be considered
individually, against the
language which the parties
themselves negotiated, and In
accordance with the well-known
canons of construction If,
based on the general law of
implied terms In contracts, as
the general law may be adapted to
the particular case of collective
agreements, the implication
arlses that a particular
management function must be
exercised In a certain way, then
an arbitrator lS bound to make
that implication, Slnce it arlses
from the collective agreement
from which the arbitrator draws
his or her jurisdiction and which
constitutes the entire bargain
between the parties To whatever
23
extent such cases as Re United
Glass & Ceramic Workers of North
America et al and Libbey-St
Clair Inc et al (1981) , 125
D L R (3d) 702, 33 o R (2d) 760
(Ont Div ct ) , appears to
suggest some other conclusion, it
would be our respectful
submission that they should not
be followed"
(See also Re Board of Education for the
City of Toronto and Toronto Teachers'
Federation, supra (1982) , 3 LAC (3d) 336
(Kennedy) )
On our reading the judgment of the Court of
Appeal In Council of Printing Industries of
Canada, supra, does not In any way conflict
with the prohibition In Metropolitan
Toronto Board of Com'rs of Police, supra,
against the importation into a collective
agreement of a general requirement of
reasonableness and fairness The
arbitration award In Council of Printing
Industries of Canada, supra, was upheld on
the ground that the interpretation placed
on the article which gave management the
authority to classify was one it could
reasonably bear The court framed the
lssue as one of interpretation (as
distinguished from the importation of a
general requirement not referenced to the
language of the collective agreement) and
found that the language of the clause, when
read In a labor relations context and In
the context of the agreement as a whole,
24
could support an implied requirement to act
In a "bona fide" fashion (in the sense that
it must put its mind to relevant
considerations) In our Vlew, the two
decisions can be read together as standing
for the proposition advanced by arbitrator
Swan, that lS, "If based on the general law
of implied terms In contracts, as the
general law may be adapted to the
particular case of collective agreements,
the implication arlses that a particular
management function must be exercised In a
certain way, then an arbitrator lS bound to
make that implication Slnce it arlses from
the collective agreement from which the
arbitrator draws his or her jurisdiction
and which constitutes the entire bargain
between the parties "
In light of the two Court of Appeal decisions, the
most sensible approach, and the one that I subscribe to, lS
that taken In Re Meadow Park Nursing Home (supra) The
state of the law following the Toronto Police Com'rs and
Printing Industries court decisions, as I read them, may be
summarized as follows An arbitrator has no jurisdiction to
import into a collective agreement a general duty on an
employer to exerClse management rights reasonably
However, if on an application of the general law of implied
terms In contract, the implication arlses from the
25
collective agreement itself that a particular management
right must be exercised reasonably, the arbitrator lS bound
to make that implication Slnce it arlses from the
collective agreement negotiated by the parties, from which
the arbitrator draws his or her jurisdiction Such an
implied duty may arlse from a specific prOVlSlon of the
collective agreement, or from a reading of the agreement as
a whole In a labour relations context
In the instant case, the unlon has not pointed to
anything In the collective agreement that could glve rlse
to an implied term that management rights must be exercised
reasonably Nor lS there anything In the collective
agreement to justify an implied term that the particular
exerClse of the management right to create an attendance
review policy must be reasonable Therefore, the Board has
no jurisdiction to reVlew the reasonableness, of the
employer's exerClse of management rights to create the
policy, or of the policy itself The Board, however, does
possess jurisdiction to determine whether the policy
conflicts with any employee rights conferred by the
collective agreement, including the lssue of whether the
policy constitutes discipline And of course, the Board
also has jurisdiction to determine the union's allegation
26
that the policy lS contrary to the Ontario Human Rights
Code
This proceeding will continue In accordance with
the directions contained In this decision The Registrar
shall schedule further hearings In consultation with the
parties
Dated this 2~ day of January 2004 at Toronto, Ontario
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Vice-Chairperson