Elizabeth McIntyre

The Member, a registered nurse, faced allegations of professional misconduct after mistakenly inserting a rectal suppository into the vagina of a four-and-a-half-year-old anesthetized patient in the operating room.

The Member admitted to failing to maintain the standards of practice.

The Discipline Committee accepted an Agreed Statement of Fact and found the Member committed professional misconduct.

A Joint Submission on Penalty was accepted, resulting in an oral reprimand and a direction that the results of the proceeding not be included in the public portion of the register, given the Member's remorse, immediate remedial actions, and unblemished 30-year career.

Following the amalgamation of seven municipalities into the new City of Toronto, the Ontario Labour Relations Board was asked to determine the appropriate bargaining unit structures under the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act, 1997.

The Board eliminated a small craft unit of operating engineers at a landfill site, integrating them into the broader outside workers unit.

The Board rejected proposals to create a separate health department bargaining unit and a separate nurses' unit within the health department, finding that these employees were appropriately situated within the larger municipal inside workers unit.

However, the Board preserved the separate stand-alone bargaining unit for employees of the Toronto Parking Authority, noting its status as a distinct local board and successor employer under the legislation.

The Employer, a home for the aged, decided to assign the administration of medications to Registered Nursing Assistants (RNAs) instead of Registered Nurses (RNs) to reduce costs.

The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) filed a work assignment complaint, arguing this violated Article 2.02 of their collective agreement, which protected work normally performed by the bargaining unit.

The Ontario Labour Relations Board found that the Employer's past practice of exclusively assigning this work to RNs since 1974 strongly supported ONA's position.

The Board ordered the Employer to cease assigning the disputed work to RNAs and restore it to the RNs.

The complainant union alleged that the employer violated sections 66 and 70 of the Labour Relations Act by requiring two employees to withdraw their grievances as a condition of accepting alternative job offers after their positions were declared redundant.

The Board found that while the employer made the withdrawal of grievances a pre-condition to the job offers, this conduct occurred in the context of attempting to settle the dispute and fulfill its collective agreement obligations.

The Board concluded that the employer's actions did not constitute unlawful coercion, intimidation, or a threat of penalty under the Act, and dismissed the complaint.

The applicant union alleged that a 'sale of a business' occurred when the respondent purchased a tavern that had been closed for several months after the previous owner defaulted.

The respondent argued that no business existed to be sold and highlighted renovations and a change in entertainment.

The Board found that a sale of a business had taken place, as the essential assets, including the liquor licence, were transferred and the premises continued to operate as a tavern.

The union's bargaining rights were declared to continue.

The complainant, a bargaining unit employee, alleged that the union breached its duty of fair representation under section 68 of the Labour Relations Act.

The union and employer had a long-standing policy of waiving job posting requirements to place disabled employees in restricted duty jobs, which the complainant argued discriminated against healthy employees.

The Board dismissed the complaint, finding that the union's policy was a reasonable and laudable effort to accommodate disadvantaged individuals and did not constitute invidious discrimination, arbitrariness, or bad faith.

The complainant union alleged that the respondent employer violated the Labour Relations Act by discharging an employee for refusing to work on Saturdays.

The Board found no evidence of violations under sections 58 or 61.

However, the Board determined that the employee had a long-standing privilege of not working on Saturdays, which the employer altered without the union's consent during the statutory freeze period following certification.

The Board held that the employer violated section 70 of the Act and ordered the employee's reinstatement with full compensation.