GSB# 2022-12315; 2023-01372

UNION# 2023-0234-0026; 2023-0234-0162

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION

Under

THE CROWN EMPLOYEES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACT

Before

THE GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT BOARD

BETWEEN

Ontario Public Service Employees Union (Zivkovic)

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 Ministry of the Solicitor General Labour Strategy & Employee Transition Manager

HEARING

September 12 and December 12, 2024

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 the Solicitor General as well as the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services restructuring initiatives around the Province. Through the MERC (Ministry Employee 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.

7At the time that Natasha Zivkovic filed two grievances she was a Fixed Term ("FXT") Correctional Officer ("CO") at the Vanier Centre for Women. On February 23, 2023 Ms. Zivkovic filed a grievance claiming a breach of Articles 2, 18, and 31 of the collective agreement. By way of remedy the grievor seeks to have her total hours rectified and full redress.

8On July 12, 2023 Ms. Zivkovic filed another grievance apparently dealing with the same issue that had given rise to her February 2023 grievance. In this grievance she claimed breaches of Articles 2, 3, and Appendix COR8 regarding Fixed Term Rollovers. The grievor outlined that she was denied a posted position for a regular CO through an Expression of Interest dated May 31, 2023.

9The issue the grievor has raised in her two grievances is that her total hours worked have not been correctly calculated, and that has impacted her negatively as she has not been rolled over into the regular service when she should have been. Since the filing of the last grievance in 2023, the grievor has been rolled over into the regular service effective October 14, 2024.

10The Employer undertook a thorough review of the grievor's hours, provided that information to the Union, and it has been determined that Ms. Zivkovic's hours had been improperly calculated. What is clear from the review of the grievor's hours is that even if her total hours had been properly calculated in 2023, Ms. Zivkovic would not have qualified for rollover in 2023 when her second grievance was filed.

11However, it is apparent that had Ms. Zivkovic's hours been properly calculated she would have been eligible for rollover on the May 2024 Expression of Interest.

12In light of the miscalculation of Ms. Zivkovic's hours in time for the May 2024 EOI, and its unfortunate consequences, the Employer and Union agreed to rollover the grievor into the regular service effective October 14, 2024. The only issue that remained outstanding was what the grievor's Continuous Service Date ("CSD") should be.

13Having heard the parties' arguments, and considered the grievor's total hours up to the time of her rollover in October 2024, I find that Ms. Zivkovic's CSD should be May 10, 2019 and direct the Employer to so record her Continuous Service Date.