Worker fired after shouting and gesturing at manager with iron beam
This instalment of You Make the Call looks at an employee whose misconduct involved threatening a manager.
Georgi Grigorenko worked as a mechanic for Toronto-based Canada Bread Company. In early 2008, a little more than one year after Grigorenko started working for Canada Bread, he began parking his car in a space normally reserved for a company vice-president who was off work. One day, his manager asked him to move the car and Grigorenko said he was busy with a machine and it would have to wait. When he moved the car an hour later, the manager said next time it would be towed away. The relationship between the two was strained after the incident.
On Sept. 15, 2008, Grigorenko and another mechanic worked a midnight shift. The manager had given a work order that specified the installation of a type of iron beam on a machine. Because there was no proper beam in the shop, he left another iron piece with a note that said “beam in shop.”
When the mechanics arrived for their shift, they weren’t sure why the note referred to one kind of beam but a different kind was left for them. They decided not to take a chance on installing the wrong item and left it alone.
The manager arrived the next morning and got angry when he saw the job had not been done. When the mechanics said they hadn’t been sure whether to install the item he had left for them, he grabbed the work order, wrote the name of the piece on it and threw it on the bench. He made sarcastic comments about the skills being applied and Grigorenko lost his temper.
Grigorenko shouted at the manager, lifted one end of the iron beam and dragged it towards the manager. He then threw it down and shouted, “you think I’m stupid.” When he picked up an end and threw it down again, the manager asked him to calm down and go home. Grigorenko refused and again picked up an end of the beam, thrusting it at the manager. The manager was startled and jumped back before going into an office.
After more arguing, the manager said he would call the police if Grigorenko didn’t leave. Grigorenko responded with another drop of the beam on the floor.
The manager filed a written report and Canada Bread suspended him with pay while it investigated. After completing the investigation, the company was prepared to let him off with a suspension if he acknowledged his threatening behaviour. Grigorenko refused, saying the manager has provoked him and he hadn’t gone home because if the manager called the police, he felt he should be there. He continued to deny doing anything wrong
Canada Bread terminated Grigorenko for violent and threatening behaviour and failing to acknowledge his misconduct.
You Make the Call
Should Grigorenko have been fired?
OR
Should he have been given another chance?
If you said Grigorenko should have been given another chance, you’re right. The board found the mechanics had a legitimate reason not to do the job because they were uncertain and the manager overreacted. However, it also found Grigorenko’s response was “unwarranted and inappropriate.” His shouting and throwing of the iron beam was uncalled for, but not threatening. The manager may have been startled, but it was unlikely he felt physically threatened, said the board.
Grigorenko displayed loud and aggressive behaviour towards the manager, but had been blamed for something that wasn’t his fault, said the board. The manager should have known, given their past history, that Grigorenko would likely get upset.
