FPSLREB Decisions

Suspension (one day) - Sexual harassment - Suspension (10 days) - Manager's failure to take action where act of harassment - Abuse of power - Credibility - the grievor was a veterinary doctor performing supervisory duties in a slaughterhouse - he spoke words and made jokes implying that one of his subordinates was a homosexual - these words were subsequently spread to the grievor's other subordinate by the grievor and the slaughterhouse employees - the grievor took no steps to put an end to this - after learning that one of his subordinates had filed a complaint against him, the grievor contacted his other subordinate to ask him to stand up for him and reminded him that he would have to work with him once the complaint had been resolved - the employer submitted that it had a duty to provide a work place free of any form of harassment and that, since the grievor was a supervisor, he was held to the same duty - the employer added that the grievor's conduct was even more egregious in that he had tried to threaten one of his subordinates into defending him - the grievor reminded the hearing that the work place was a slaughterhouse, an environment over which he had no control, and that the words that were said were in keeping with the culture of the place - the grievor maintained that, although his words and jokes were in bad taste they did not constitute harassment - the grievor identified what he considered to be procedural defects in the way the employer handled the affair - he also pleaded that there were personality conflicts between him and his subordinates, on the one hand, and between him and his supervisor, on the other hand - he argued that the fact that he reminded one of his subordinates that he would be working with him once the complaint had been resolved did not amount to an abuse of authority - the adjudicator found that the procedural defects alleged by the grievor were of no consequence in the case at bar since a grievance hearing is a de novo proceeding - the adjudicator concluded that the grievor's testimony was not credible and preferred the testimony of the employer's witnesses - the adjudicator found that the grievor's conduct justifying the one- and ten-day suspensions had been established and that the length of the suspensions was reasonable in the circumstances. Grievances refused. Cases cited: Tipple v. Canada (Treasury Board) (September 26, 1985), A-66-85, (F.C.A.); Faryna v. Chorny, [1952] 2 D.L.R. 354.