FPSLREB Decisions

Suspension (10 days) - Communication with a journalist - Employer's reputation - Suspension during investigation lasting so long as to constitute a disciplinary measure - the grievor was a director of a group of employees (the XMP Group) incorporated to take legal action to have the employer pay them the bilingual bonus - in October 1999, documents of the employer were stolen from the car of an employee in Toronto - the media took an interest in the case and the employer issued directions concerning contact with the media - the first directive informed the employees that "all media inquiries [concerning the stolen documents] are to be referred to the Communications Branch including those received by employees at home" - the second direction was to the same effect - the grievor received a telephone call from a journalist who wanted to discuss the stolen documents case - the grievor refused to talk about the case - the journalist then asked him questions about the XMP Group, which the grievor agreed to answer - during their conversation, the grievor used the term "rat hole" in speaking of his work place - the next day, the grievor informed the employer of his discussion with the journalist and offered his full cooperation - the journalist contacted the grievor again after that, and the latter told him not to contact him again - based on his conversation with the grievor, the journalist published an article in his paper entitled "Canadian Spies Revolt Over Wages" - this article mentioned that the employer's work place was a "rat hole" - the grievor was supposed to replace, on an acting basis, his supervisor who was about to go on leave - as a result of the reaction of a representative of the employer to the journalist's story, the employer decided to suspend the grievor with pay during the disciplinary investigation - the grievor had to remove his personal belongings from his office and felt he was treated as an outcast - ten months later, the employer concluded that the grievor had contravened the direction on contact with the media and imposed a ten-day suspension on him - the employer argued that the grievor had damaged its reputation in his conversation with the journalist - the grievor responded that in support of the 10-day suspension the employer had raised the fact that he had contravened the directions on contact with the media - he added that those directions applied only to the stolen documents affair - he stressed that the employer could have cancelled his acting appointment instead of suspending him during the disciplinary investigation - the adjudicator found that the 10-day suspension was motivated by the employer's erroneous finding to the effect that the grievor had contravened the directions on contact with the media - from the English version of these directions, it is clear that the directions concerned the stolen documents matter - the adjudicator was, however, of the opinion, that the use of the term "rat hole" in speaking of the work place was of a nature to damage the employer's reputation - he added that the grievor had shown that he regretted speaking to the journalist - the adjudicator took into account that the conversation took place at the journalist's request and that the suspension during the investigation had been so long as to constitute in itself a disciplinary measure - the adjudicator cancelled the 10-day suspension. Grievance allowed. Cases cited: Haydon, 2002 PSSRB 10 (166-2-30636); Gaw (166-2-3292); Nolan 166-2-25229).