FPSLREB Decisions

Individual grievances referred to adjudication

1 In July 2009, Éric Bélanger, Michelle Barrette, Alison Barrick, Desiree Lynn Bilsky, Chantal Gervais, Anne-Marie Charbonneau, Joel-Christian Porter and Connie Reynolds (“the grievors”) filed individual grievances against the Canada Border Services Agency (“the employer”), alleging that it violated the collective agreement signed on January 29, 2009 between the employer and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (“PSAC”) for the Border Services Group (“the collective agreement”).

2 The grievances read as follows:

I grieve that the employer has breached Appendix D of the FB Collective Agreement by failing to implement all provisions within one hundred and fifty (150) days. As of the date of this grievance, the retroactive payment owed to me is overdue.

3 The grievances were filed pursuant to paragraph 209(1)(a) of the Public Service Labour Relations Act (“the Act”). The parties agreed that the individual grievances be joined and heard together. At all material times, the individual grievors were represented by the PSAC.

4 Between the time of the referral to adjudication and early January 2012, the parties engaged in various exchanges with a view of narrowing the issues which were the subject matter of the grievances.

5 A hearing was scheduled for January 6, 2012. On January 5, 2012, the parties asked me to cancel the hearing because they were working on a consent order that would be presented to the adjudicator for endorsement and incorporation into an order for a final resolution of the grievances. On March 16, 2012, the parties provided me the following document, entitled “Consent Order” which contained a review of “facts” and a “decision”:

…

4. Appendix D of the above-noted collective agreement provides: The provisions of this Collective Agreement shall be implemented by the parties within a period of one hundred and fifty (150) days from the date of signing.
5. In accordance with Appendix D, all provisions of the collective agreement were to be implemented by June 27, 2009, including the issuance of retroactive pay to the grievors.
6. The grievors did not receive the retroactive payments owing to them within the 150-day period.
7. In particular, the grievors received their retroactive payment in July 2009.
8. In the final level reply to the grievance, dated January 18, 2011, the employer denied the obligation to pay interest but partially allowed the grievance noting that the grievors had been “remunerated at the correct rate of pay and no further corrective measures will be forthcoming.”
9. On March 3, 2011, the bargaining agent referred the grievances to adjudication.
10. In a letter, dated August 30, 2011, the bargaining agent advised the PSLRB that the grievors were withdrawing their claim for payment of interest on the retroactive payments.
11. On January 6, 2012, the Board agreed to the bargaining agent’s request on consent for a cancellation of the hearing in light of the decision of the parties to proceed by way of a consent order.

Decision

The grievance is hereby allowed to the extent that the employer violated Appendix D of the FB Collective Agreement when it failed to pay the grievors within the 150‑day period.

Reasons

6 I have reviewed and analyzed the content of the consent order and the documents on file. I have concluded that the consent order proposed by the parties to the collective agreement provides for a clear and final resolution of the grievances and, as such, is in the interest of labour relations. Therefore, I have no reason to not agree with the parties’ request and I make the following order:

Order

7 The grievances are allowed to the extent that the employer violated Appendix D of the collective agreement when it failed to pay the grievors within the 150-day period.

March 28, 2012.

Renaud Paquet,
adjudicator