Witnessed by contractor who had 20/20 vision
A bus driver who worked on a refinery site in Redwater, Alta., was terminated after she was witnessed speaking on her cellphone while driving a work-site bus.
Leslie Sutherland had worked at Diversified Transportation operating a worker-transport bus at the North West Redwater Refinery since 2011. On Nov. 13, 2015, Richard Houghton (who worked on-site with Atlas RFID Solutions) attempted to flag down a bus.
The driver was on a cellphone, according to Houghton, and drove right by him without stopping. Houghton said he tried to wave the bus driver down after it passed the designated-stop area, but the driver didn’t stop.
He immediately alerted his supervisor who contacted Diversified Transportation management.
After an investigation, Sutherland was dismissed on Nov. 18. The union, Teamsters, Local 362 grieved it and argued Houghton’s evidence wasn’t enough to warrant a termination.
During testimony, Houghton replied “possibly” when he was asked whether or not Sutherland (who was at the arbitration hearing) was the same bus driver who passed him by.
The company said there were five drivers working on the day in question and Sutherland was the only one who had medium-length brown hair, which is what Houghton said when asked for a description.
The others were three blond women and one short-haired man on duty, said the employer.
Sutherland’s cellphone records showed she received an incoming call at 11:45 a.m. from Olivier Baril, operations manager. It went on for six minutes.
Baril said he was returning a previous call from Sutherland, who wanted to inquire why a shuttle service from Edmonton was being discontinued for the bus drivers.
After that call, Baril received a call from a supervisor who said a bus driver was seen operating a cellphone while driving. Because there were between 2,800 and 3,000 workers on site at any given time, the company views the site as safety-sensitive, said Baril, and it consistently enforces the cellphone ban.
After a brief investigation, it was determined Sutherland’s bus was the closet to the missed stop in question. She told Baril she didn’t pass Houghton at any time during her shift.
But after a further investigation of the staffing levels, it was determined only two drivers were near the stop at that time while two other relief drivers were at the office site. The final driver was not near the stop at that time.
The second driver was a male, Paul Gibson, who showed up after Sutherland’s bus missed Houghton. When Houghton got onto Gibson’s bus, he told his story about the driver speaking on the phone.
Houghton and Gibson were acquainted with each other, as Gibson had previously driven him from Edmonton to the job-site as part of the company’s shuttle service.
Sutherland testified that around 11:45 a.m., she had been taking a cigarette break and that was when she spoke with Baril.
Arbitrator James Casey denied the grievance and said the testimony provided by Houghton was key to his decision.
“He provided his evidence in a fair and balanced way. He felt compelled to report the incident because it was an extremely serious safety breach. I fully accept that in his testimony he attempted to accurately describe the events of Nov. 13, 2015.”
“Richard had a clear, unobstructed view of the driver. He was intensely focused on the driver since he was trying to make eye contact. He has 20/20 eyesight. He had a good opportunity to accurately observe the driver. He has no motivation except to give forthright testimony. He reported the matter to his supervisor soon after because he was very concerned about the serious safety violation,” said Casey.
Sutherland should have known that talking on the phone while driving could be a fireable offence, said the arbitrator.
“(Sutherland) was given a copy of the policy and signed documentation confirming that she read and understood the policy and would abide by its terms. In her testimony, (Sutherland) confirmed that she understood the policy and that talking on the cellphone while driving was unsafe. However, she also indicated that she didn’t appreciate how serious the matter was since she focused on the words ‘up to and including termination.’ I do not accept this evidence,” said Casey.
Reference: Diversified Transportation and General Teamsters, Local Union No. 362. James Casey — arbitrator. Dwayne Chomyn, Ryan Smith for the employer. Roxana Jangi for the employee. July 24, 2017.
