GSB# 2017-0575

UNION# 2016-0467-0040

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION

Under

THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT

Before

THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD

BETWEEN

Ontario Public Service Employees Union (Sly)

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)

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.

7Matthew Sly is a Fixed Term ("FXT") Correctional Officer ("CO") at the Quinte Detention Centre ("QDC"). He filed a grievance on December 1, 2016 claiming that the Employer had violated the collective agreement because it has not counted all of the hours that he worked at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry ("MNRF") in the calculation of his Continuous Service Date ("CSD"). By way of remedy, the grievor seeks to have all hours that he worked while at the MNRF as a seasonal worker added to his service in his position as a FXT CO.

8Based on the established jurisprudence and the collective agreement, FXT seniority is calculated back to the beginning of an employee's continuous service, or back to the first break in employment which is greater than 13 weeks, or back to a resignation. Article 18 addresses "Seniority (Length of Continuous Service) for FXT and Regular Part Time employees". Under the collective agreement applicable when this grievance was filed, the calculation was based on the actual number of full-time weeks worked by a full-time FXT employee during his full-time employment back to the first break in employment which was greater than 13 weeks (See Art. 18.1.1 (b)).

9Based on a review of the records, the Grievor worked for the MNRF as a seasonal worker prior to getting a position as a FXT CO, but he had a break in service of greater than 13 weeks before he commenced the CO position. As such, he is not entitled to have any hours he accumulated while working in a seasonal capacity at the MNRF counted towards his CSD.

10Having considered the facts and the submissions of the parties, and for the reasons outlined above, this grievance is dismissed.