Timing error in the discipline process proves fatal for the employer's just cause case

In a decision released April 13, 2026, arbitrator Derek L. Rogers found that Hartmann Canada Inc. dismissed a nearly 38-year employee without just cause, yet declined to order his reinstatement. The case turns on a misstimed discipline process and a conduct record Rogers found made return to the workplace untenable.

Mark Doull, a Dry Press Operator at Hartmann's Brantford, Ontario plant, was terminated on September 11, 2025, following an altercation with Michael Brown, a probationary employee who had joined the company on August 18, 2025. On September 5, Brown repeatedly stopped a press he was not qualified to operate, ignoring direction from Doull and a co-worker.

Doull, visibly angered, raised his voice at Brown, pushed aside a steel cull bin weighing approximately 60 pounds, and grabbed the shovel out of Brown's hands. Brown then walked off to report the incident at the supervisor's office, where Doull followed him and they had heated words in the presence of management. Hartmann concluded Doull had violated its Workplace Violence and Harassment Prevention Policy, which defines violent behavior as "a statement or behaviour that could reasonably be interpreted as a threat of physical harm, or an attempt or exercise of physical force that causes or could cause physical or psychological harm."

Rogers found Brown's comment was "inappropriate, presumptuous and disrespectful, if not...

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