You Be The judge

[Turkeytop]

Grievor – Male, age 36

Seniority – 9 years

Job Title – Maintenance Person

Rate of Pay - $24.55/hr

Discipline Record – Fair ( A few notations for attendance an tardiness)

Nature of Grievance - Improper discharge

Remedy Sought – Reinstatement with no loss of pay.

The Company - employs about 60 workers in its metal fabricating plant. The employee had asked the shop manager. For Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off the following week, to go deer hunting. The manager denied the request.

Later that day the manager went to the employee and told him he could have one of the three days off but they couldn’t spare him for the whole three days. The employee said he would take Monday off.

The employee didn’t go to work Monday Tuesday or Wednesday. He returned to work on Thursday. When he arrived, the Manager told him his employment was terminated

Relevant Collective agreement language.

“An employee may make written request for a leave of absence for up to 30 days. Such request shall not be unreasonably denied."


"An employee shall be discharged and his/ her name removed from the seniority list for an unauthorized absence of two days or more."

The Union filed a grievance. Does the grievance succeed.

[Matt]

Yes, at least partially. The guy didn't lose his job, but it's unclear if he got compensated for the two days or had to take a LOA.

[Rate This]

I say no… a request isn’t a guarantee and then he had the nerve to not show up for the other two days… did he call in or just no call no show?

[Turkeytop]

He didn't call. According to the manager he didn't make a proper request for leave. It was to be made in writing. The manager said that although it was an improper request, he did give it serious consideration. There was only one maintenance person and he couldn't approve three days off on such short notice.

This was in November and the grievor had already exhausted his vacation allotment for the year.

[zzand]

I say no on this one.

[craig11152]

I would say no. Since his LOA request wasn't in writing it wasn't official to kick in the " Such request shall not be unreasonably denied." clause.

[Turkeytop]

The guy got fired on Thursday. So by the time I got to meet with the Company, the following Tuesday, he had already lost four days of work.

The Manager said that even though the request for leave should have been made in writing, he had accepted the verbal request. He believed that, due to the short notice and the difficulty it would have caused for the plant's operations, his denial of the request was not unreasonable.

He further argued that he had been absent three days without approvel and as such was subject to automatic ternination.

I reminded him that he had approved a leave for one day, so the unauthorized absence was only for two days. That might warrent some discipline up to and including discharge. But it failed to meet the threshold for automatic discharge. I told him he should exercise his discretion and impose a lesser penalty. That way, the plant would have its maintenance man back.

[Round Six]

.... I reminded him that he had approved a leave for one day, so the unauthorized absence was only for two days. That might warrent some discipline up to and including discharge. But it failed to meet the threshold for automatic discharge. I told him he should exercise his discretion and impose a lesser penalty. That way, the plant would have its maintenance man back.

In your originating post, you said:
"An employee shall be discharged and his/ her name removed from the seniority list for an unauthorized absence of two days or more."

Now you're saying his 2 days of unauthorized absence failed to meet the threshold for automatic discharge.

I'm confused.

[Rate This]

The guy got fired on Thursday. So by the time I got to meet with the Company, the following Tuesday, he had already lost four days of work.

The Manager said that even though the request for leave should have been made in writing, he had accepted the verbal request. He believed that, due to the short notice and the difficulty it would have caused for the plant's operations, his denial of the request was not unreasonable.

He further argued that he had been absent three days without approvel and as such was subject to automatic ternination.

I reminded him that he had approved a leave for one day, so the unauthorized absence was only for two days. That might warrent some discipline up to and including discharge. But it failed to meet the threshold for automatic discharge. I told him he should exercise his discretion and impose a lesser penalty. That way, the plant would have its maintenance man back.

This is the sort of thing unions have a bad name for. Splitting hairs so a guy can openly flaunt the rules.

[Turkeytop]

This is the sort of thing unions have a bad name for. Splitting hairs so a guy can openly flaunt the rules.

The plant needed a maintenance Person. I made a proposal to the manager that would have filled that need for him. The Union could not force him to accept the proposal.

An Arbitrator might have upheld the discharge. Or he may have substituted a lesser penalty. But it would have cost the Company sevral thousand dollars in Arbitration and legal fees to find out

This was an opportunity for him to consider something less at no cost to the Company.

[Rate This]

This is the sort of thing unions have a bad name for. Splitting hairs so a guy can openly flaunt the rules.

The plant needed a maintenance Person. I made a proposal to the manager that would have filled that need for him. The Union could not force him to accept the proposal.

An Arbitrator might have upheld the discharge. Or he may have substituted a lesser penalty. But it would have cost the Company sevral thousand dollars in Arbitration and legal fees to find out

This was an opportunity for him to consider something less at no cost to the Company.

So you strong-armed him into accepting the guy keeping his job...

[Matt]

This is the sort of thing unions have a bad name for. Splitting hairs so a guy can openly flaunt the rules.

The plant needed a maintenance Person. I made a proposal to the manager that would have filled that need for him. The Union could not force him to accept the proposal.

An Arbitrator might have upheld the discharge. Or he may have substituted a lesser penalty. But it would have cost the Company sevral thousand dollars in Arbitration and legal fees to find out

This was an opportunity for him to consider something less at no cost to the Company.

I'm anti-union, but I support this resolution.

[Turkeytop]

So you strong-armed him into accepting the guy keeping his job...

The Union can't strong arm any employer. If he's convinced of the soundness of his case he can try to have it confirmed by an Arbitrator.

Win or lose the Arbitrator's fees are shared 50/50 by the parties.

[Turkeytop]

I'm anti-union, but I support this resolution.

I'm anti-hunter, but I had a job to do.

The manager came back and said he wasn't prepared to pay the grievor for any lost wages, but he could return to work the following day and he would change his record from a discharge to a four day disciplinary suspension.

I met privately with the grievor. I told him the money should be less important to him than getting his job back. He had already given up three days pay to go hunting. We already had return to work on the table. But having a four day suspension on one's record is a serious matter. It's like having one foot out the door. I said we should work on getting his record cleaned up.

I proposed to the manager that he bring the guy back with no payment of lost wages, but have the record indicate a one day suspension. In the end the manager agreed to bring him back with a two day suspension on his record.

[Turkeytop]

So, after he returned to work, he boasted to his friends about how he had killed a deer out on the hunt, but couldn't remember shooting it because he had been so drunk.