Clean records save workers’ jobs after being initially fired for drinking, driving in company vehicle
Two Saskatchewan telephone employees who were found to have consumed alcohol before getting in an accident with a company truck — as well as having open beer in the vehicle —deserve serious discipline but not termination of employment, a Saskatchewan Arbitration Board arbitrator has ruled.
Justin Nokonechny and Ron Salter were field technicians for Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel) in Regina, installing and maintaining telephone lines in southeastern Saskatchewan. Neither had been subject to any discipline during their service with SaskTel — 12-and-one-half years for Nokonechny and 11-and-one-half years for Salter — and both received very good performance reviews.
On Dec. 11, 2009, Nokonechny and Salter were assigned to work on the installation of a new system that would increase the telephone capacity in the area of Grenfell Beach, Sask. As was normal procedure on such a job, the plan was for the two men to visit the worksite to evaluate what was required to do the job. The actual work would follow the next day.
The men surveyed the site but found the contractor had not installed a pedestal to house the new telephone system. After checking what they could without the pedestal in place, they determined there wasn’t much more they could do that day and decided to return to base and do paperwork. By the time Nokonechny and Salter arrived at the local district office, it was nearly 3:00 p.m. Since they had skipped lunch, they decided to quit for the day. It was common practice for SaskTel employees to finish work an hour early if they didn’t take a lunch or other breaks.
Early finish led to social visit
The two men decided to use the extra time to visit the parents of a co-worker who had died three months earlier. They picked up a bottle of rum as a gift to the co-worker’s father and proceeded to the parents’ home.
Nokonechny and Salter stayed at the home for about one hour. During the visit, each man had one or two small glasses of rum mixed with pop. As they left, the father gave them each one beer “for the road,” which they opened as they got into their SaskTel truck and started on the way back to Regina. Nokonechny said he felt fine to drive and Salter thought his companion was fine as well.
However, on the highway, the truck hit a patch of black ice and Nokonechny lost control. The truck hit a ditch and rolled. Neither man was injured but the truck was a total loss of about $33,000. When police arrived, they administered a roadside alcohol test to Nokonechny, which he failed. At the police station, he did not fail a breathalyzer test but his licence was suspended for 24 hours and he was ticketed for driving without due care and having open liquor in a vehicle.
While Nokonechny was at the station, Salter called their manager to inform him of the accident. He admitted that they had a couple of drinks, had beer in the truck and Nokonechny would probably “blow yellow” on the breathalyzer.
The following Monday, Nokonechny and Salter were interviewed separately. Nokonechny confirmed his licence was suspended but said he had not been arrested or charged. Nokonechny thought they were asking about criminal charges and didn’t mention the tickets. Later that day, both men were suspended without pay pending further investigation.
SaskTel later decided to terminate the employment of the two men for “socializing during work time” and violating its code of business conduct, which explicitly prohibited consuming alcohol and driving a company vehicle or having open alcohol in a company vehicle. The policy stated that violations would be grounds for disciplinary action “up to and including dismissal.” SaskTel also noted Nokonechny had been charged with offences for which he had been ticketed, which he had not revealed when interviewed.
The union filed grievances for both Nokonechny and Salter, claiming their misconduct was grounds for discipline but not dismissal, especially considering their spotless records.
Serious misconduct by model employees
The arbitrator acknowledged that the consumption of alcohol at work in a company vehicle was serious misconduct. However, he noted that there was no indication Nokonechny was legally impaired. He didn’t fail the breathalyzer test and only received a temporary licence suspension as a warning. He also found the circumstances that led to the two of them consuming alcohol weren’t planned as the two men had decided on the spur-of-the-moment to visit their deceased co-worker’s family since they had some time to do so. In addition, the vehicle they were in was a regular-sized vehicle as opposed to a large commercial truck and they considered themselves at the end of the work day rather than during work hours, said the arbitrator.
The arbitrator found that both Nokonechny and Salter had clear disciplinary records, along with favourable performance reviews. Since they were also upfront about their misconduct and apologized for their actions, it was most likely the incident was a “one-off” and wouldn’t be repeated, said the arbitrator.
SaskTel’s history of disciplining employees for similar misconduct was also considered and the arbitrator found most cases where an employee was found to have consumed alcohol at work resulted in a suspension. In the only instance where an employee was fired in relation to alcohol, he was reinstated in the grievance procedure.
The arbitrator found Nokonechny and Salter appreciated the seriousness of their misconduct and their records showed the employment relationship was not irreparably damaged.
“I am satisfied (the two employees) appreciate the seriousness of their misconduct,” said the arbitrator. “In my view, significant discipline short of discharge ought to be sufficient warning to others not to mix alcohol with work.”
SaskTel was ordered to reinstate Nokonechny and Salter with four-month unpaid suspensions substituted for discipline and to compensate them for lost pay for the remainder of the 22 months since their terminations, minus their earnings in subsequent jobs.
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