FPSLREB Decisions

The complainant made a complainant against her bargaining agent, alleging that it violated its duty of fair representation when it failed to refer her duty-to-accommodate grievance to the Board for adjudication. The respondent requested that the Board dismiss the complaint, as it failed to disclose an arguable case of arbitrary, discriminatory, or bad-faith representation. It argued that it represented the complainant fairly at all levels of the grievance process but that it found that there was little to no chance that her grievance would succeed at adjudication. The complainant submitted both that the respondent provided no reasons for its refusal and that it provided insufficient reasons, which rose to the level of arbitrary representation. In her submissions, the complainant claimed that the respondent owed her a more fulsome set of reasons, including the facts, evidence, legislation, and case law that it based its decision on. The Board disagreed and reiterated that a bargaining agent is not required to provide written reasons, as long as it turned its mind to the issue of the grievance. The Board also stated that it does not act as an appeal of a bargaining agent’s decision; nor does it review any justification provided on the judicial review reasonableness standard. It found that based on the allegations, the bargaining agent turned its mind to the issue of the grievance and that ultimately, the bargaining agent is afforded significant latitude in its decisions as to whether to refer grievances to adjudication. It found that the complainant did not make out an arguable case that the bargaining agent violated its duty of fair representation, and it dismissed the complaint.

Motion allowed.
Complaint dismissed.