FPSLREB Decisions

Excluded positions - Post-certification identification of managerial or confidential positions pursuant to paragraph 5.1(1)(b) of the Public Service Staff Relations Act - Level of the grievance process - Promissory estoppel - Scientific and Analytical Group (SA) - Veterinary Medicine Group (VM) - the employer's manual identified the regional director positions as the first level of the grievance process - during collective bargaining for the SA Group, the bargaining agent requested the addition of a clause stipulating that the first level of the grievance process was the regional director - the employer responded that the regional director was the first level of the grievance process until further notice - on the basis of this assurance, the bargaining agent abandoned his claim - an agreement in principle was reached by the parties - the employer then designated inspection manager positions as the first level of the grievance procedure and identified them as managerial or confidential positions, including the two SA and VM group positions at issue - the collective agreement for the SA Group was subsequently ratified - the employer argued that the bargaining agent's evidence concerning assurances that it allegedly received during the negotiation of the SA Group collective agreement was vague and unclear - the employer added that it informed the bargaining agent of the identification of the inspection manager positions prior to the signing of the SA Group collective agreement - the bargaining agent responded that it was on the basis of the employer's promises that it withdrew the request to amend the collective agreement to stipulate the first level of the grievance process as being the regional director - it added that the employer could not amend the designation of the levels of the grievance procedure prior to the signing of a new collective agreement - the Board found that great importance must be attached to promises made during collective bargaining - in this case, the evidence revealed that the employer had agreed to negotiate the designation of the first level of the grievance process - the employer cannot alter that designation prior to the next collective agreement - the identification of the inspection manager position of the SA Group is rejected - since no evidence was presented regarding the inspection manager position of the VM Group, the identification of this position is confirmed. Identification confirmed for one position. Identification rejected for one position.