The employer laid off seniority employees and later proposed to recall them as seasonal employees at a lower wage rate, without the benefits accorded to seniority employees.
An arbitrator ruled that the employer could do so under the collective agreement's management rights clause, characterizing 'seasonal employee' as a job classification.
The Divisional Court quashed the award.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal affirmed that the standard of review for an Ontario labour arbitrator interpreting a collective agreement remains patent unreasonableness.
The Court held that the arbitrator's decision was patently unreasonable because 'seasonal employee' is an employment status, not a classification, and the collective agreement did not permit stripping recalled seniority employees of their acquired rights.
