Telus document ruled 'fake' by arbitrator
When a parent reported a school staff member phoned her at home to inform her about comments made about her family during a meeting, the school fired her for violating confidentiality.
Naomi Allen worked at Eagle View Elementary School in Port Hardy, B.C., for 19 years as a First Nations support worker. On Sept. 10, 2015, a parent reported a phone call made the previous evening from a person she identified as Allen. The person who made the call allegedly advised the parent that her family’s history had been discussed during a staff meeting at the school.
The memory of a previous incident involving her daughter at the school was still emotionally painful for the parent.
She reported the call was “intentionally hurtful and upsetting to her and that (Allen) gave her the impression that the school did not take the significance of the previous event involving her family seriously,” according to the termination letter dated Oct. 15, 2015
The termination was made after an investigation by the school principal, D’Arcy Deacon. It referenced an email that the parent claimed was provided by Telus showing Allen’s number on a list of phone calls made to the parent’s home on Sept. 9.
When confronted with this information on Sept. 11, Allen at first said she didn’t remember making a call to anybody. “I’m 98 per cent sure I didn’t,” said Allen.
The principal followed up with the parent and asked her to contact Telus to get a list of who called her home the night in question. She forwarded an email to the principal later that day.
It was reportedly from Telus and showed Allen’s number as having reached the parent at 4:12:37 p.m.
On Sept. 15, another meeting with Allen took place. She was provided with the name of the parent and again asked if she made the call. She again denied the accusation.
Allen was suspended and sent home.
Later, she called Deacon and told him that after she spoke with Telus, the company stated it did not track home phone calls and therefore there was no way a representative would have been able to provide the list of calls to a customer.
After a final meeting, Allen was dismissed. The union, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 401 grieved the decision on Oct. 16.
Cindy Bennett, senior security investigator at Telus, testified that the email forwarded to the school reportedly from the parent was counterfeit. “Telus does not retain records of incoming calls to landline numbers or local call records on landlines,” she wrote in a memorandum provided for the arbitration hearing.
As well, Bennett listed a number of other issues that indicated the email was not legitimate, such as formatting issues with the text and no customer interaction was recorded when the parent said she called the company.
Arbitrator Arne Peltz upheld the grievance.
“The parent lied about the Telus email, which was the single most important piece of evidence in the case. The email was a fake,” said Peltz. “However, the inability to find the grievor’s evidence wholly credible does not constitute proof of the employer’s allegations against her. Moreover, my finding that the parent lied about the Telus email leaves me in grave doubt about the veracity of her allegations.”
But Allen did not attempt to lie about the allegations during the investigation as the employer alleged, said Peltz.
“The employer sought to characterize the grievor as evasive, deflecting and deceptive, but I have largely rejected this submission. There was nothing to suggest why the grievor would have breached established policy on confidentiality and phoned the parent. Despite voluminous evidence and examination, there is a vacuum on the question of why she did it, if indeed she is guilty.”
Reference: B.C. Public School Employers’ Association, Board of Education of School District No. 85 (Vancouver Island North) and Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 401. Arne Peltz — arbitrator. Peter Csiszar for the employer. Natasha Morley for the employee. April 19, 2017.
