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

Decision

1Since 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.

2The 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.

3Over 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.

4The parties have also negotiated a number of agreements that provide for the “roll-over” of fixed term staff to regular (classified) employee status.

5Hundreds 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.

6It 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.

7Chris 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.

8The 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 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.

9The 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

10With 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.

11This 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.

12Having considered the facts and the submissions of the parties, and for the reasons outlined above, this grievance is denied.