Document Type
Arbitration Decision
Publication Date
5-9-1968
Keywords
Discharge, Just Cause, Loafing, Employee Grievance, Construction
Abstract
The grievor, an employee in the construction industry, was discharged for "loafing". Warnings given by the field superintendent and the general foreman had not been passed down to him by the working foreman, and the privilege of taking "smoke breaks" was "flexible". The agreement provided that an employee could be discharged "for cause". The majority of the board, A.A. White, dissenting, held, even if the requirements of "cause" in the construction agreement were considerably lower than the requirements of "just cause" common in general industrial situations, "cause" for dismissal was not established here. In the construction industry, where foremen are members of unions, the company may have to take special steps to ensure that warnings reach the employees. The board ordered that the employee be suspended for two days and that he be compensated for lost wages.
A.A. White, dissenting, stated that the requirements of "cause" were less than those of "just cause" and that this flowed from the fact that the company had agreed to hire exclusively from the union.
Recommended Citation
Re United Ass'n of Journeymen & Apprentices of the Plumbing & Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, Local 221, and Fraser-Brace Engineering Co Ltd (1968), 19 LAC 258, 1968 CanLII 1197 (Can LA) (Arbitrators: Innis Christie, F Quaife, AA White).
