HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-3240.Cassibo.19-03-06 DecisionCrown Employees
Grievance Settlement
Board
Suite 600
180 Dundas St. West
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8
Tel. (416) 326-1388
Fax (416) 326-1396
Commission de
règlement des griefs
des employés de la
Couronne
Bureau 600
180, rue Dundas Ouest
Toronto (Ontario) M5G 1Z8
Tél. : (416) 326-1388
Téléc. : (416) 326-1396
GSB# 2018-3240
UNION# 2018-0368-0297
IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION
Under
THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT
Before
THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD
BETWEEN
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
(Cassibo) Union
- and -
The Crown in Right of Ontario
(Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services) Employer
BEFORE
Gail Misra
Arbitrator
FOR THE UNION
Dan Sidsworth
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
Grievance Officer
FOR THE EMPLOYER Samantha Gray
Treasury Board Secretariat
Employee Relations Advisor
HEARING February 26, 2019
-2-
DECISION
[1] The Employer and the Union at the Central East Correctional Centre agreed to
participate in mediation-arbitration in accordance with the Local Mediation-
Arbitration Protocol that has been negotiated by the parties. Should mediation
not result in resolution of a grievance, pursuant to the Protocol, they have agreed
to a mediation-arbitration process by which each party provides the Arbitrator
with their submissions setting out their respective facts and the authorities they
may be relying upon. This decision is issued in accordance with the Protocol and
with Article 22.16 of the collective agreement, so that it is without precedent or
prejudice to any other matters between the parties, and is issued without written
reasons.
[2] Jill Cassibo filed a grievance dated December 14, 2018 claiming that she should
have been allowed to work 3.5 hours of overtime on December 13, 2018. The
Grievor is an OAG -08 support staff at the Central East Correctional Centre,
working in the Programs Department. She relies in part on the Programs
Department Overtime Protocol and on Articles 2 and 3 of the Collective
Agreement. The Grievor maintains that she was the more senior employee and
had less overtime hours than did the worker who was assigned the overtime.
[3] The Grievor works as an Admin Assistant-Clinical Services (Social Work and
Addictions). There are two other Admin Assistants providing admin support to
the Programs Department: One is the Admin Assistant-Deputy Superintendent
Admin, and the other is the Admin Assistant – Rehabilitative Services
(Rehab/Chaplaincy/Library/Nilo/Volunteer). The Admin Assistant – Rehabilitative
Services (Rehab/Chaplaincy/Library/Nilo/Volunteer) is Amber Swatson.
[4] Ms. Swatson had been working on a time-sensitive project that had to be
completed on December 13, 2018. As the system had been down that day, it
was taking longer to get the project completed. The manager asked Ms. Swatson
if she could stay to complete the project, which was related to the ASCU
Discharge program updates and short sentence notifications, and which the
manager had assumed would take about a half hour of overtime to complete.
This work is part of Ms. Swatson’s assignment, and is not part of the Grievor’s
work assignment. Ultimately, Ms. Swatson had to work two hours of overtime in
order to complete the project.
[5] According to the manager, it would have been inefficient and disruptive to have
had to change the assignment so that the Grievor would have been assigned to
do the overtime work on a time sensitive project that she was not familiar with. It
would have taken time to explain both the work, and the point at which Ms.
Swatson had reached by the end of the work day. In addition, at the time, the
manager believed the work would only take a further half hour beyond Ms.
Swatson’s regular hours of work.
-3-
[6] The Programs Department Overtime Protocol does not apply to the OAG staff.
While the Employer has management rights to decide when overtime is required,
even if it has to distribute overtime in a fair and equitable manner, that is subject
to its right to ensure that all its operational requirements are met. Having
considered the submissions of the parties, I find that it was reasonable in the
particular circumstances that day for the Employer to assign the overtime work to
the other Admin Assistant and not to the Grievor. As such, the grievance is
denied.
Dated at Toronto, Ontario this 6th day of March, 2019.
“Gail Misra”
______________________
Gail Misra, Arbitrator