Employee claimed he was responding to being hit by co-worker in front-end loader but claim was unsubstantiated
The Ontario Labour Relations Board has upheld the five-day suspension of a worker who twice threatened to kill his foreman.
Carlos Teodoro, 46, was a labourer for Teston Pipelines, a pipeline contractor in Concord, Ont. In 2009, Teodoro was experiencing family problems that put him under a lot of stress.
In December 2009, Teodoro’s foreman became angry at the amount of time he was spending on his cellphone. Heated words were exchanged and Teodoro claimed the foreman insulted him and made a comment about Teodoro’s failing marriage. Other employees heard the argument and profanities spoken by both men. Things escalated and the two men ended up in a fight, though no punches were thrown. The fight was broken up and they went back to work.
The foreman was operating a front-end loader and Teodoro claimed the foreman drove it towards him and hit him in the shoulder, knocking him down. He also said the foreman threatened to kill him before it happened. Teodoro reported the incident to his supervisor, but the foreman denied he hit Teodoro and no-one else claimed to have seen it happen. In addition, Teodoro didn’t have any marks on him that would indicate he had been struck with a front-end loader. The supervisor couldn’t conclude Teodoro had been hit, but kept them separated following the fight.
In July of 2010, Teodoro was transferred back to the foreman’s crew following a workplace injury. Once again, the foreman saw Teodoro speaking on his cellphone and ordered him to get off. The foreman told Teodoro to clean up some debris at the worksite, but Teodoro refused because it was beyond his medical restrictions. The foreman told Teodoro to go home but Teodoro said he had a right to a full shift. The foreman became angry and yelled at Teodoro. Teodoro called a supervisor and told him, within earshot of the foreman and others, that the supervisor needed to do something to get him away from the foreman or he’d have to kill the foreman. Teodoro was told to go home for the day.
The next day, Teodoro spoke with the supervisor and referred to the December incident, claiming the foreman had tried to kill him and “before he does that to me I’ll do that to him.” The supervisor called the police and management met to discuss the situation. It was decided to suspend Teodoro for five days, since the company took the threat seriously.
The board found there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the foreman had hit Teodoro with the front-end loader, as there were no marks on him, he didn’t seek medical treatment afterwards and there were no witnesses. As a result, the board concluded Teodoro fabricated it.
Without such an incident, there was no justification for the later death threats, said the board. It recognized that Teodoro was under stress from his personal life and this likely contributed to his reactions to his foreman’s orders.
