‘Every unionized employer can face this problem’: employment lawyer explains how long-delayed termination cases can turn into years of back pay
For unionized employers, the danger in a termination grievance may lie less in the merits of the case than in how long it takes to get a hearing.
That was evident after a federal arbitrator recently reinstated a dismissed employee and ordered substantial back pay after finding that both the employer and the union had “warehoused” the grievance, effectively tolerating years of delay.
For Toronto employment lawyer Patrick Groom, a certified specialist in labour law with McMillan, the outcome illustrates how warehousing grievances can magnify liability for employers – and such delay patterns are not confined to the rail sector.
“In other industrial settings, steel plants and auto plants where a similar process is used, it's supposed to be an expedited process,” he explains.
Instead, once grievances are referred to arbitration, they can sometimes be effectively parked, with neither party moving to select an arbitrator or set hearing dates while potential monetary liability continues to build.
The arbitration decision details how a CN rail car mechanic was dismissed after a profane outburst at a supervisor. The union grieved the termination, and the case then sat for several years before reaching an arbitrator.
When it finally did, the arbitrator rejected the employer’s argument that the grievance...
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