A long-service worker, a criminal case, and a firing the railway couldn't make stick
One of Canada's largest railways fought to make the firing of a long-service worker stick. It lost twice, and an arbitrator's ruling that a suspension fit the conduct better than dismissal now stands.
In a decision dated May 26, 2026, Justice Eleni Yiannakis of Quebec's Superior Court dismissed Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway's application to quash an arbitration award. The award, issued by arbitrator James Cameron of the Canadian Railway Office of Arbitration & Dispute Resolution on May 10, 2024, had set aside the dismissal of a machine operator with roughly 13 years of service and replaced it with a five-month suspension and loss of seniority.
The worker was dismissed on April 6, 2021, for what the company called conduct unbecoming, a label it tied to criminal charges of sexual assault and assault of his girlfriend, along with a failure to comply with conditions.
He was later found guilty of assault and multiple failures to comply with conditions, and spent about seven months incarcerated. In July 2023, he was placed on a twelve-month probation order.
The union grieved the firing. The arbitrator heard the matter in March 2024 and issued his award that May, concluding that dismissal was not warranted and that a five-month suspension was the appropriate response in the circumstances.
The arbitrator...
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