HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-3484.Mauviel.20-09-30 DecisionCrown Employees
Grievance Settlement
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Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8
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Commission de
règlement des griefs
des employés de la
Couronne
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Toronto (Ontario) M5G 1Z8
Tél. : (416) 326-1388
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GSB# 2018-3484
UNION# 2018-0411-0019
IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION
Under
THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT
Before
THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD
BETWEEN
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
(Mauviel) 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 Michelle LaButte
Treasury Board Secretariat
Employee Relations Advisor
HEARING July 10 and September 28, 2020 (by
videoconference)
-2-
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] Gabriel Mauviel is a Fixed Term (“FXT”) Correctional Officer (“CO”) at the Ottawa
Carleton Detention Centre (“OCDC”). He filed a grievance on October 30, 2018 claiming
that he was not given his hours to review quarterly in accordance with the terms of the
collective agreement, and particularly Appendix COR8. By way of remedy, the grievor
seeks to be made whole and to be able to review and dispute all his hours since his start
date.
-3-
[8] For the purposes of this grievance, the relevant portion of Appendix COR8 states as
follows:
Fixed term employees will have their hours calculated quarterly. These hours
will be given to fixed-term employees with a dispute form to be checked and
given back to the Employer for final verification. This will be done in order to
expedite any further rollovers.
[9] The Union and Grievor maintain that the Employer at the OCDC is not in compliance
with the requirement to calculate FXT hours quarterly and has not been giving FXTs the
opportunity to dispute their hours on a quarterly basis so that any issues may be resolved
before rollovers occur. The intention of the language was to expedite rollovers, when
vacancies arose. Rather, at the OCDC, FXT hours are only calculated and provided
after a vacancy has been identified and the parties have agreed through the MERC
Agreement how that vacancy is to be filled.
[10] According to the Employer, Mr. Mauviel’s hours have been calculated quarterly for him,
and he was advised that they were available, but he did not pick them up. In any event,
the Employer concedes that FXT hours had not historically been prepared quarterly, but
that they are now to be done in accordance with the terms of COR8. It has been difficult
to provide the hours in the first few months of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and
the impact it has had on staffing at the OCDC, but it is the Employer’s intention to meet
its’ obligation.
[11] Having considered the facts and the submissions of the parties, and in light of the
language of the collective agreement at Appendix COR8, I declare that the Employer
has been in breach of the requirement to provide FXT employees with their hours on a
quarterly basis, and to give them the opportunity to dispute their respective calculations,
should they wish to do so. As such, the grievance is upheld.
Dated at Toronto, Ontario this 30th day of September, 2020.
“Gail Misra”
_____________________
Gail Misra, Arbitrator