Online Course Assignments: Module 7 Discussion and Assignment Workbook

Module 7 Discussion

Activity 2: Grievance Experience

In your reflective journal, outline your experience with a grievance filed with an employer. It can be your grievance or a grievance that you have heard or read about in your workplace or in another place of work. What was the grievance about? Did the parties attempt to settle it early on in the grievance procedure? Was it resolved without resorting to arbitration? Do you think the matter was dealt with in the most effective manner? What were the effects beyond the grievance procedure (for example, to the personal relationship between the parties involved)?

Number of words: 254 

Activity 3: Settlement of Grievances

In your reflective journal, consider the pros and cons of agreeing to this kind of a settlement. Consider it from both the employer's and the union/employee's perspective. You might want to consider the following questions:

(i) What is the $2000 for? Is it simply the employer making a business decision about the cost of having to defend the matter at arbitration? (that is, if arbitration will cost $4000, why not just settle for $2000?) Is this “nuisance” money? Doesn't paying this money actually open the door to more nuisances?

(ii) Do you think that the alleged misconduct will truly be wiped from the employee's file and never mentioned again? Is it fair that potential new employers are not privy to this information? What if the employee has been fired for suspected theft, this type of settlement is reached, and the employee then steals from the new employer? Should the new employer be able to sue the old employer for not disclosing the information?

(iii) If the employee applies for new jobs and is directly asked whether he has been fired from any previous job, should he be able to say no, given the settlement reached? Is this ethical?

Number of words: 384

Activity 4: Case Study  

At the start of this topic, you read about Josh's grievance with the City of Pleasantville (see below). Assume the following facts:

          (a) The employer has confirmed that Josh is a drug abuser, and he admits this and wants to kick the habit.

         (b) The union has made it very clear that they are dedicated to taking this grievance all the way to arbitration if need be.

         (c) Josh has been terminated for one month at this point and has lost approximately $4500 in wages and benefits.

In your reflective journal, explore your feelings about allowing this grievance (i.e., reinstating Josh), denying it, or settling it. If you were the employer, what would you do? Would you reinstate Josh? Credit his seniority? Give him back pay? How much? Why?

Case Study: Josh

Josh works for the City of Pleasantville as a unionized park worker. One afternoon, the human resources manager, Beth, notices him sitting in his city truck at the side of the road. She approaches him and catches a whiff of marijuana from his truck. She asks him if he is smoking marijuana, and he admits that he is. He explains that he is on a break, and that he is just about done his shift.

After an investigation, the employer decides to terminate Josh's employment as a result of his actions. The president of the local union, Jeff, immediately approaches Beth to discuss the situation at Step 1 of the grievance procedure. She advises that doing drugs on city time is a very serious employment offence, and there is absolutely no possibility that the employer will reconsider its decision. Accordingly, the union files the grievance at Step 2 of the grievance procedure. The grievance alleges that the employer has terminated the employee without just cause because Josh suffers from a drug addiction problem. The remedy requested is that the employer re-instates Josh immediately, allow him to undergo drug counseling, and credit him with the seniority and wages that he has missed since he was terminated.

Number of words: 221

Total Number of Words for the Module 6 Discussion/activities: 859 (approximately 3 pages)

Module 7 Assignment 

Part A: Grievance Settlements

Use your journal entries from the “Settlement of Grievances” activity in Topic 2 Write about the pros and cons of allowing or settling termination grievances and the best way which to do this.

Number of words: 314

Part B: Dispute Resolution

What kind of dispute resolution process would be suitable for the following categories of disputes, and why?

(i) A worker is terminated for theft. The worker persistently denies taking the merchandise. The employer has one witness who says that he saw the theft occur.

(ii) A worker is denied “marriage leave” under the collective agreement because she requests it six months after the wedding in order to go on a honeymoon. There is no dispute on the facts, but the wording of the collective agreement could be interpreted in two different ways.

(iii) A worker files a personal harassment grievance against her supervisor, alleging that there have been 10 years of ongoing irritating comments and actions taken against her. The hearing would be long. It would involve a considerable amount of evidence being called. The evidence includes the evidence of each subordinate of this supervisor, which would put a lot of pressure on the whole workforce.

Number of words: 291

Part C: Extra Damages

Provincial labour legislation establishes the powers of arbitrators and arbitration panels. For example, they have the capability to subpoena witnesses, call evidence, and order a remedy in some areas. An arbitrator is capable of ordering that the party in breach of the collective agreement pay compensation to the aggrieved party to make them “whole.” For instance, suppose that a worker has been unfairly terminated. This worker has been off work for two(2) months. The arbitrator may order the employer pay the employee for the two months of back wages and benefits.

Nevertheless, in British Columbia, arbitrators do not have the capability to award punitive damages (over and above the amount of compensation required to put the aggrieved person in the position as if the collective agreement had not been violated).

Consider both the pros and cons of an arbitrator having the capability to award extra damages (that is, damages to “teach the employer a lesson”). Do you think that an arbitrator must be able to award these types of damages?

Number of words: 287

Part D: Major Module Assignment

Read the following scenario and write a response answering the following questions:

(i) Assume that the union files a grievance. Summarize the nature of the grievance and the remedy that the union would request in the grievance.

(ii) Analyze both parties' arguments to the grievance.

(iii) If you were the arbitrator, which decision would you make and why?

(iv) How would a ‘without prejudice’ settlement benefit or not benefit the parties?

Robert Findlay Scenario

Robert Findlay recently arrived in Vancouver from Winnipeg to a new company to take a position as maintenance engineer for XYZ Company. He has 15 years of experience in his line of work but he has had trouble adjusting to his new work environment. He feels that he is given the most labour-intensive and brainless work at the plant and that he is bypassed for the more skilled work that he can capably perform.

One day in October, Robert Findlay felt his frustrations at work growing. He had just come to work on a Monday morning after a weekend of nursing his wife and four children who had had the flu. He arrived at work twenty minutes late and when he tried to explain his situation to his supervisor, the supervisor listened for about one minute and then got distracted by other work. The supervisor ended up telling him that if he were late again, action would be started against him and that such action would eventually lead to his termination. His supervisor explained how he hated to take this approach with Robert as he was a good worker but that he had to consistently apply the rules regarding tardiness.

When Robert went to the dispatcher to pick up his tools for work all that was left were the worst tools in the shop. He moped over to the supervisor; the same person who would not listen to him about being late and he, as usual, gave him the dirtiest work of the day. As he was working on the equipment, the union representative came to him and told him that the company had not made enough profit this year for the employees to receive a Christmas bonus. Robert had been counting on that bonus to catch up on his expenses from moving.

Close to the end of Robert's shift he sat down and started to complain to one of his coworkers. His co-worker suggested that if he were discontent he should talk to the union representative. So, he went to the union representative with his problems. The union representative (who also worked in the same department) said that there was nothing that could be done about his situation. Therefore, Robert took matters into his own hands and went to see the plant supervisor.

He walked into her office and said, “What kind of operation are you running here anyway? All I get are the dirtiest jobs and to top it off, after all this sweat and pain, I'm not going to get any Christmas bonus! I quit!” The supervisor stood there a bit stunned by this outburst but did not endeavour to convince Robert to stay at work as they would be entering a quieter production time now that the fall was over.

After a day of cooling off, Robert realized that he needed this work and that perhaps he could stick it out a while longer. He phoned the plant supervisor and stated that he had quit in haste and that he would like his position back. The plant supervisor stated that she considered that he had quit and that was the end of the matter. Robert phoned the local union who said that they would investigate the matter for him and let him know if he had a valid grievance.

Number of words: 396

Part E: Participation Summary

(i) Prepare a report (not more than 1 page, double-spaced) that summarizes your contribution to each of the 3 monthly online discussions. Provide evidence of sample highlights and examples that demonstrate your depth of thinking.

(ii) Prepare a report (not more than 1 page, double-spaced) that presents your opinion about the online discussions. Discuss how participating in the monthly online discussions make you more aware of your views and other peoples' views about the course topics. How did you react to the perspectives presented in the headline articles? Did you agree or disagree with everything you read? Were you comfortable with other learners' perspectives when they varied from your own? Do you think that contrasting ideas influenced you or your ideas and viewpoints? Explain your answer.

Number of words: 402

Total Number of Words for Module 5 Assignment: 1,690 (4 pages)

Total Number of Words for Module 3 Discussion and Assignment: 2, 549 (8.5 pages)