GSB# 2023-03066
UNION# 2024-0248-0003
IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION
Under
THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT
Before
THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD
BETWEEN
Ontario Public Service Employees Union (Bedford)
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
Shivani Ramoutar Treasury Board Secretariat Employee Relations Branch Employee Relations Advisor
HEARING
December 4, 2024
Decision
1The Employer and the Union at the Hamilton Wentworth Detention Centre (“HWDC”) agreed to participate in mediation-arbitration in accordance with the Local Mediation-Arbitration Protocol that has been negotiated by the parties. Should mediation not result in resolution of a grievance, pursuant to the Protocol, they have agreed to a mediation-arbitration process by which each party provides the Arbitrator with their submissions setting out their respective facts and the authorities they may be relying upon. This decision is issued in accordance with the Protocol and with Article 22.16 of the Collective Agreement, so that it is without precedent or prejudice to any other matters between the parties, and is issued without detailed written reasons.
2Michael Bedford is a Correctional Officer (“CO”) at the HWDC. On January 18, 2024 Mr. Bedford filed a grievance claiming violations of Articles 2, 3, and 44 of the Collective Agreement and various policies and legislation. He claims that the administration of the HWDC created undue hardship for the grievor by denying him sick credits when he was being treated for cancer, and causing him to have to return to work sooner than expected due to financial hardship. By way of remedy, Mr. Bedford seeks full redress.
3The grievor had been diagnosed with cancer in 2022. On December 28, 2022 he had surgery and was in the hospital thereafter for his recovery. Mr. Bedford returned to work on May 4, 2023 when his short term sick leave credits ran out. Upon his return to work the grievor had to work 20 consecutive shifts in order to requalify for short term sick leave. The grievance was filed because the grievor maintains that he should not have had to work 20 consecutive shifts in order to re-qualify as he believes that he should have been considered to have worked on January 1, 2023.
4Article 44.3 of the Collective Agreement, which addresses the Short Term Sickness Plan, states as follows:
Where an employee is on a sick leave of absence which commences in one (1) calendar year and continues into the following calendar year, they are not entitled to leave of absence with pay under Article 44.1 for more than one hundred and thirty (130) working days in the two (2) years until they have returned to work for twenty (20) consecutive working days.
5There is no dispute that the grievor was already on sick leave from December 27, 2022. On the schedule for the week of Monday December 26, 2022 to Sunday January 1, 2023, the grievor is shown as being off sick for his scheduled shifts of December 27, 30, and 31, 2022. As already noted, he had his surgery on December 28th. For the grievor’s scheduled shift on January 1, 2023, he is marked as being on “SOS” which means “worked stat on stat”.
6The grievor did not work on the statutory holiday on January 1, 2023 as he was still in the hospital. Thus the fact that he was marked on the calendar as “SOS” does not change the fact that Mr. Bedford had been off work sick since December 27, 2022, he was not at work on the first day of the 2023 calendar year, he was not fit to work that day, and he continued to be off work until May 2023. Hence his sick leave straddled two calendar years, as the language of Article. 44.3 envisages.
7Having considered the evidence, submissions of the parties, and the terms of the Collective Agreement I find that in all the circumstances the Employer did not breach the terms of the Collective Agreement when it advised the grievor that he would have to work 20 consecutive working days before he could re-establish his entitlement to Short Term Sickness benefits.
8The grievance is therefore denied.
Dated at Toronto, Ontario this 6th day of December 2024.