HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-3526.Lajeras.19-12-27 Decision
Crown Employees Grievance Settlement
Board
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180 Dundas St. West
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8
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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# 2018-3526
UNION# 2018-0234-0309
IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION
Under
THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT
Before
THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD
BETWEEN
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
(Lajeras) Union
- and -
The Crown in Right of Ontario
(Ministry of the Solicitor General) Employer
BEFORE Gail Misra Arbitrator
FOR THE UNION Dan Sidsworth
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
Grievance Officer
FOR THE EMPLOYER Al J. Quinn
Ministry of the Solicitor General
Employee Transition Manager
HEARING July 19, 2019 and December 19, 2019
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Decision
[1] Since the spring of 2000 the parties have been meeting regularly to address
matters of mutual interest which have arisen as the result of the Ministry of
Community Safety and Correctional Services (now, the Ministry of the Solicitor
General) as well as the Ministry of Children and Youth Services restructuring
initiatives around the Province. Through the MERC (Ministry Employment
Relations Committee) a subcommittee was established to deal with issues arising
from the transition process. The parties have negotiated a series of MERC
agreements setting out the process for how organizational changes will unfold for
Correctional and Youth Services staff and for non-Correctional and non-Youth
Services staff.
[2] The parties agreed that this Board would remain seized of all issues that arise
through this process and it is this agreement that provides me the jurisdiction to
resolve the outstanding matters.
[3] Over the years as some institutions and/or youth centres decommissioned or
reduced in size others were built or expanded. The parties have made efforts to
identify vacancies and positions and the procedures for the filling of those positions
as they become available.
[4] The parties have also negotiated a number of agreements that provide for the “roll-
over” of fixed term staff to regular (classified) employee status.
[5] Hundreds of grievances have been filed as the result of the many changes that
have taken place at provincial institutions. The transition subcommittee has, with
the assistance of this Board, mediated numerous disputes. Others have come
before this Board for disposition.
[6] It was determined by this Board at the outset that the process for these disputes
would be somewhat more expedient. To that end, grievances are presented by
way of statements of fact and succinct submissions. On occasion, clarification has
been sought from grievors and institutional managers at the request of the Board.
This process has served the parties well. The decisions are without prejudice but
attempt to provide guidance for future disputes.
[7] Chris Lajeras filed a grievance on December 29, 2018 claiming that the Employer
has failed to properly calculate his Continuous Service Date (“CSD”), and seeks to
have his official start date with the Ontario Public Service (“OPS”) corrected from
December 2017 to February 2010.
[8] The grievor is a Correctional Officer at the Vanier Centre for Women. According to
the grievor, he had begun work on February 16, 2010 in the Ministry of Health, and
achieved full time status in that Ministry as a Warehouse Clerk in September 2012.
In May 2015, the grievor began to work at the Ministry of Correctional Services and
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Community Safety, as it was then known, as a full time Stores Clerk at the
Maplehurst Correctional Complex. He was off work on an approved leave of
absence from October 23, 2017 to December 15, 2017, to attend COTA. On
December 18, 2017, the grievor asserts that he began to work as a Correctional
Officer at the Vanier Centre for Women. As such, he asserts that he has had no
break in service since his start date in the OPS on February 16, 2010.
[9] The Employer has provided a copy of an email from the grievor to management
stating as follows:
I announce my resignation of my home position as a stores clerk at the Maplehurst
Correctional Institute effective December 18, 2017.
Regards,
Chris Lajeras
[10] With respect to Mr. Lajeras’ earlier years working in various positions in the OPS,
the grievor resigned from his employment effective December 18, 2017, and then
began working as a fixed term CO as of that date at the Vanier Centre for Women.
That resulted in the termination of his service pursuant to Article 18.4 of the
collective agreement. Article 18.4 states that “Continuous service shall be deemed
to have terminated if: (a) an employee resigns or retires;…”. In accordance with
Article 18.4, the grievor’s resignation deems his continuous service up to that point
to have terminated.
[11] This issue has been determined by the Board on a number of occasions including
in the following decisions: OPSEU (Wiles) v. Ontario (MCSCS), GSB#2016-0300,
2016-0695, 2016-0696, December 6, 2016 (Briggs); OPSEU (Sutherland) v.
Ontario (MCSCS), GSB#2016-0461, September 11, 2017 (Briggs); and, OPSEU
(Bourgeois) v. Ontario (MCSCS), GSB#2017-0503, November 6, 2017 (Briggs).
Nothing on the facts before me in this case makes the grievor’s situation much
different from those cases. The resignation caused a termination in his service.
[12] Having considered the facts and the submissions of the parties, and for the reasons
outlined above, this grievance is denied.
Dated at Toronto, Ontario this 27th day of December, 2019.
“Gail Misra”
Gail Misra, Arbitrator