Reason for dismissal: Unexcused absence of employee with second job, Ontario arbitration confirms

“(The foreman) was probably looking to see if the worker was working — it wasn’t ideal, although perhaps not the most egregious behavior,” she says. “But the employee did not pursue the complaint further and first raised it when she became dissatisfied with her request for a new shift schedule.”

The arbitrator also found that the city had good cause to terminate the employee’s employment. It found that her failure to report for shifts – after agreeing to the schedule – compounded by scheduling conflicts with her new full-time job, was incompatible with her continued employment. The arbitrator also took issue with the employee’s credibility when she said she could not remember whether she had worked at the hospital when she was absent during her city shifts.

“The lack of services was the most egregious issue that would trigger a dismissal for cause in a case like this,” Loewenberg said. “You must report to work if there are no extenuating circumstances or issues based on the Human Rights Code – the employee did not provide a particularly compelling reason why she could not report to work.”

In addition, the evidence did not support the employee’s claims of discrimination or harassment based on race or gender, the arbitrator said in dismissing the complaint and upholding the termination.

“The reality is that the city tried to change the worker’s shifts for her three times, and the whole thing was about whether or not she should be able to have a second job,” Loewenberg says. “I don’t think the outcome was shocking, to be honest, but it is a good reminder that employees should express their complaints clearly and act on them in a timely manner, and that employers should consider and document these requests, while being wary of human complaints. rights issues.”