Employee terminated while on lengthy medical leave
A British Columbia union has been ordered to pay over $46,000 to one of its own staff members after failing to meet its duty to accommodate him before termination.
In a decision issued Nov. 21, 2025, Arbitrator Koml Kandola found that United Food and Commercial Workers' Union Local 1518 breached its accommodation obligations toward an employee who had been on medical leave for over a year.
The grievor, who had 4.5 years of service with the union, went on leave in February 2021 and was terminated in March 2022. While the union sought medical information throughout the accommodation process, Kandola found it fell short at a critical juncture in early 2022.
The employer acted reasonably for most of the accommodation process, seeking additional medical information to understand the employee's restrictions. However, the breakdown occurred in early 2022 when disputes arose over what the medical information required.
Kandola found that "it was reasonable for 1518 to have not returned the grievor to work by the end of 2021" due to ongoing inconsistencies in medical information. The employer's failure came when it did not take the next logical step.
The arbitrator determined that "the prudent way to have resolved the ongoing dispute between the parties as to what the medical information required would have been to seek express, pointed clarification from the grievor's medical practitioners on...
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