Robert G. McConachie v. Campbell’s Welding & Machining Ltd.
File No.: 3632-00-OH Before: Anthony Brown, Vice-Chair. Date: June 21, 2001
Decision of the Board
1This is an application pursuant to section 50 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (the “Act”).
2The applicant complains that his employment was terminated after he asked for a health and safety meeting to discuss an unsafe sandblaster.
3The responding party has filed a detailed response outlining its assertions with respect to the circumstances leading to the termination of the applicant’s employment. By letter dated June 19, 2001, it seeks to have the application dismissed on the basis that it does not disclose a prima facie case, contrary to Rule 46 of the Board’s Rules of Procedure.
4Rule 46 states:
- Where the Board considers that an application does not make out a case for the orders or remedies requested, even if all of the facts stated in the application are assumed to be true, the Board may dismiss the application without a hearing or consultation. In its decision, the Board will set out its reasons.
5The responding party asserts that the dismissal of the applicant had nothing to do with the request by the applicant for a health and safety meeting but was a result of performance-related issues, including insubordination.
6It is evident from the applicant’s own submissions that on the date of termination, he and his supervisor had a spat over whether or not the supervisor was paying attention to him while she was working on office duties. The applicant states that he attempted to engage his supervisor in a conversation about setting up a meeting to discuss the allegedly unsafe sand blaster. When he considered that he was not getting any attention from the supervisor, he left the room and returned to his work station.
7The responding party states that the supervisor was in fact paying attention to the applicant, and was surprised when she turned around only to find that he had left the room. This in turn immediately precipitated a heated conversation between the two of them at the applicant’s work station, which led to the termination of employment on the basis of insubordination. The applicant states that his supervisor accused him of leaving during the conversation in mid-course.
8Nowhere in his pleadings does the applicant state that the employer refused to schedule a health and safety meeting or to deal with his allegations about the safety of the sandblaster. In fact, the applicant states that the employer did offer to have a meeting about the sandblaster the following day, but that the applicant was unavailable. The applicant does make an allegation that the supervisor “looked at me differently” ever since he “started mentioning Health and Safety” (including a concern about smoking in the lunchroom) but this is a bald and unparticularized allegation with no discernable link to a reprisal.
9It is quite evident from the applicant’s pleadings that he was fired because the supervisor, rightly or wrongly, felt he was being disrespectful. There was no refusal to discuss the sandblaster and there is no allegation that the employer discounted the safety concerns that the applicant wished to raise. The allegations fail to establish a link between the dismissal and any efforts to exercise or enforce rights under the Act.
10In my view, even assuming that the material facts pleaded by the applicant are true, there is no prima facie case showing a reprisal contrary to section 50 of the Act. Accordingly, the Board exercises its discretion not to hear this application. This is without prejudice to the applicant’s right to file a timely complaint with sufficient particulars to make out an arguable case and which complies with the Board’s Rules of Procedure, including setting out all of the facts upon which he relies, the acts or omissions that he asserts constitute a breach of the Act, the identity of persons allegedly involved in or responsible for the unlawful conduct and any documents to which he may refer in the course of a proceeding.
11Hearing dates previously scheduled are hereby cancelled.
“Anthony Brown”
for the Board