Employee well-known as aggressive driver
After an accident while driving a route, a British Columbia transport-truck driver was fired after he sped on the next trip.
Sergio Beraldin had worked for Canadian Freightways since 2005 when on March 15, 2017, he and sleeper-team partner Mike Pitt were travelling a route on Stewart-Cassiar Highway 37 in B.C. when the truck “dropped into a small dip/hole and the truck and both trailers rolled over on the passenger side,” according to Beraldin’s report after the incident.
Pitt fell out of the sleeper cabin and injured himself. He was taken to hospital to receive treatment.
In his report, Beraldin included extensive notes and photographs made with a disposable camera that drivers are required to have to record accidents.
Later, Beraldin called the Watson Lake, B.C., RCMP detachment to find out how much damage was done and any possible causes.
Beraldin was told the damage estimate was $20,000 but the cause did not show speed as a reason.
Beraldin checked the speed reports and found he had reached as high as 107 kilometres per hour at some points.
Canadian Freightways’ policy said 100 kilometres per hour was the upper limit.
The employer demanded Beraldin attend a professional driver improvement course (PDIC) taught by a former colleague, John Beeler, who was acting as a consultant with the company.
On March 22, Beraldin spoke with Beeler via phone and he said he was “at a loss” as to why the accident happened.
Beraldin provided photos and reports after Beeler requested them.
After the PDIC was done on March 26, Beeler told Beraldin that he should stop driving so aggressively and he offered to ride along with him to help manage that. The ride-along never happened.
The next day, Beeler advised Ken Osterhout, senior dispatcher, and Tim Christensen, manager of safety and compliance, that he believed Beraldin drove too fast, which contributed to the March crash.
Beraldin left for a solo trip that day to Prince George, B.C. No supervisor spoke with him before he left about his speeding.
On March 30, Beeler spoke with Christensen and wondered whether or not Beraldin had curtailed his speeding.
After Christensen generated a report via the Webtech monitoring system that was installed in all trucks, he found multiple incidents of speeding by Beraldin.
He was suspended from driving and ordered to work in the warehouse while an investigation commenced.
The company’s collision prevention committee met on April 5, and decided the “driver’s excessive speed is what ultimately caused the accident.”
In Berladin’s April 19 dismissal letter, the cause given was excessive speeding on a “frequent and ongoing basis.”
The union, Teamsters Local Union No. 31, grieved the firing and argued it was no secret that Beraldin preferred to drive over the 100-kilometre limit but that no manager ever warned him to stop.
He had no discipline on record other than a 2012 note that was past the 12-month sunset clause.
Arbitrator James Dorsey upheld the grievance and ordered the employer to substitute a one-day suspension without pay and reinstitute Beraldin and compensate him for lost wages.
“In the absence of a meaningful warning and having lulled Beraldin into believing running hills at speeds above the limit was acceptable, the employer was required by both its policy and the just-cause standard to impose discipline less than dismissal to impress upon Beraldin that his driving is not acceptable and to provide him an opportunity to rehabilitate and correct his driving,” said Dorsey.
While he may have breached the employer’s strict 100-kilometre-per-hour limit, Beraldin was never told that it was a problem until the dismissal, said the arbitrator.
“Beraldin pushed the limits of speed within the mechanical restraints built into the trucks and accurately reported on his trip sheets, while believing he was being actively monitored or audited through Webtech reports. With no warning other than a caution from former co-driver Beeler, Beraldin was so lulled into a false sense of security that it did not occur to him that he would be under extreme scrutiny on his first trip after the collision or that he should make any change to how he normally drove," said Dorsey.
"It did not occur to him that Beeler, who he regarded as simply a former driver with whom he had differences but consulted for help understanding why the collision happened, would be the agent of the scrutiny,” said Dorsey.
Reference: Canadian Freightways and Teamsters Local Union No. 31. James Dorsey — arbitrator. Kim Glenn for the employer. David Reynolds for the employee. Nov. 6, 2017.
