Grievance settlement board rejects unfair postings

Appeals allowed for four workers wronged by unfair selection process in Ontario.

Toronto (2 Dec. 2010) - Ontario's Grievance Settlement Board (GSB) has ruled in favour of four individuals who grieved the way new job positions were posted and decided by the office of the worker adviser in the provincial ministry of labour.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) filed the case on behalf of the workers, arguing that the process was so flawed it should be scrapped and carried out again.

Nimal Dissanayake, vice-chair of the GSB, issued a ruling earlier this year ordering two of the grievors to be placed immediately into the contested positions – with retroactive remedy provisions – and a re-run of the competition for the other grievors.

“It is simply mind-boggling that the selection panel in this case received specific advice to adopt the very process that had been repeatedly disapproved in a long line of board decisions," the vice-chair wrote.

“All four grievors were subjected to the same flawed process,” the decision noted.

OPSEU was able to work out "an amicable settlement" that avoided disruption for any of the parties involved.

"It was acknowledged during the hearing that the employer had not complied with the standards as set out by the GSB and yet it still took three years, thousands of dollars and a major disruption to that workplace before the problem was fixed," the union notes.

The GSB provides dispute resolution services to the Crown employers and the trade unions and bargaining agents representing Crown employees in the Ontario Public Service and Crown agencies identified under the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE