FPSLREB Decisions

Denial of vacation leave - Whether employer made every reasonable effort to grant the grievor's request - Nurse - on February 3, 2001, the grievor requested annual leave for his shift of February 21, 2001, in order to provide child care for his children - the employer denied his request on the basis that the quota for annual leave for nurses for this shift had been met - this quota was contained in the vacation leave policy established by the employer - the policy allowed three nurses to be on annual leave at one time - the collective agreement required the employer "to make every reasonable effort" to grant an employee vacation leave "in an amount and at such time as the employee may request" - the grievor claimed that the employer's failure to grant leave was unreasonable unless it was certain or almost certain that the employer would incur overtime costs - according to the grievor, the employer could have used the services of part-time or casual staff at straight salary to cover his absence - the adjudicator determined that a broader test than the requirement to pay overtime is applicable - whether the employer has made every reasonable effort to grant leave as requested must be determined on an assessment of the efforts of the employer in terms of the entirety of its operations - the adjudicator concluded that the employer had not acted unreasonably when it denied the grievor's request for vacation leave - the employer had an appropriate number of posts and an appropriate staff complement for these posts - the employer had in place workable systems and policies to address the issue of vacation leave and it followed these systems and policies - its systems and policies were reasonable and applied reasonably in light of the employer's operations - the adjudicator determined that, while it may be possible for the employer to call in people at straight time to replace a person requesting leave, it is not reasonable to expect an employer to do this when it has a flexible and workable leave policy in place, such as the employer has here. Grievance denied. Cases cited: Lauzon (166-2-15278); Graham (166-2-21414); Nicholson (166-2-16080); Milne (166-2-18376); Whyte (166-2-17992); Oates (166-2-26597); Milette (166-2-15368 and 15369).