Worker wanted seasonal work so he could work elsewhere part of the year
A Northern Canadian company did not constructively dismiss an employee when it removed him from a full-time position and offered him a contract position in response to the employee’s request to go on leave and work elsewhere for part of the year, an adjudicator has ruled.
Trans North Turbo Air provides chartered helicopter service throughout the Yukon and Northwestern Canada and is based in Whitehorse. Most of the company’s business takes place between April and September. Helicopter pilot Dion Parker was hired by Trans North in April 2010 to be the base manager at the company’s base in Dawson City, YT. Base manager duties included assigning pilot duties, overseeing maintenance and administrative matters, performing occasional rescue work and arranging contracts during the slower winter season.
Parker became base manager at another base in 2012, but didn’t like it. In October 2012 he informed the company he and his wife had purchased a home between bases in Whitehorse and Haines Junction. Trans North said it considered the move an abandonment of his position, but it offered him a line pilot position out of Whitehorse.
Soon after, Parker was approved for a leave to work for a flight training company out of the province so he could maintain his instructor rating. He returned Dec. 1.
In April 2013, Parker accepted an offer from Trans North to be the base manager at Haines Junction for the summer season. Because Parker was paying a mortgage on his home, the company agreed to subsidize the costs of living in the base manager’s residence. That fall, Parker decided to rent out his home and move to the base full-time. Trans North appointed him full-time base manager at Haines Junction with rent-free accommodation.
One week after moving full-time to Haines Junction, Parker requested a three-month leave to visit family in New Zealand. It caused some difficulty but the company granted a two-month leave with the expectation Parker would return in January 2014.
Soon after Parker left, Trans North learned he was working for a New Zealand-based company in Asia. Parker told the company it wouldn’t affect his return date, but it was disappointed because the leave was costing the company additional transportation, time, logistical, and accommodation costs.
Trans North felt Parker had been dishonest about his leave and was guilty of “dereliction of duty,” but it allowed him to return as the Haines Junction base manager. Later in 2014, Parker was offered work again for the same New Zealand company but his leave request was denied.
In the summer of 2015, Parker asked for an extended leave during the slow winter and work as a seasonal pilot in the summer. However, the base operated year-round and Trans North told Parker if he left for New Zealand, he would be replaced as base manager.
In August 2015, Parker accepted a position with the New Zealand company and asked for another leave. The company granted the leave starting in November but asked him to clear out all his personal property from the base manager’s house by Nov. 30 so it could be available for other staff members. Parker said he planned to be back before the summer season, so it wasn’t necessary to put another pilot in the house.
The company replied that it didn’t want to “fulfill the role of Haines Junction base manager with a contract pilot” and permission to live in the house would be discontinued if he only worked in the summer. Parker emphasized that he was not relinquishing his base manager job and would be back to perform those duties “by March 1st at the latest.”
Parker asked for clarification of his employment status and Trans North said it considered him the base manager until Nov. 30. After that, it would remove him from that role. The company went on to say it would like to “continue utilizing you in the capacity of a full-time line pilot, from the Whitehorse base” but if he didn’t want such work, it would consider him for contract pilot work.
Parker asked for contract pilot work out of Haines Junction, but the company said the only contract work was out of Whitehorse.
Parker sued for constructive dismissal, arguing Trans North unilaterally changed his work location, altered his pay structure, and removed his managerial responsibilities.
The adjudicator noted that in three years with Trans North, Parker worked at three different bases. He worked as a line pilot, training pilot, and base manager. He experienced frequent changes to his position and location mainly at his own request.
The adjudicator found that Parker’s employment was described from the beginning as “on a when and where needed basis." The fact Trans North had six bases — three operating year-round — meant there was an expectation of operating out of different locations at different times of the year. And though he was base manager for part of his employment for a small stipend, his main job was still that of a pilot, and the company didn’t change his base salary, flight pay, vacation, or benefits, said the adjudicator.
