'Less than forthcoming' worker attitude cited
Despite a shift not being filled for a safety-sensitive position at the Imperial Oil Strathcona refinery in Edmonton, a process operator left the site and went home.
Kevin Zaplotinsky had worked for the employer since 2012, when on April 23, 2017, he was seen leaving his post: “You were observed leaving your assigned work area while holding the alky 1 post without being relieved by an employee assigned to the same operations on the succeeding shift. Alternate arrangements were not agreed to by your supervisor. This constitutes a repeated violation of CBA article 7.07,” said Zaplotinsky’s May 9 termination letter.
The letter also documented two other incidents in which Zaplotinsky was disciplined via suspensions. One was for speeding in the refinery parking lot, while another was for leaving his post on Dec. 22, 2016, to start his vehicle, and removing his personal protective equipment (PPE), which was a violation of the site’s safety rules.
Imperial Oil also cited Zaplotinsky’s “less than forthcoming” attitude during the investigation of that incident.
Zaplotinsky was also accused of making racial comments and he “inappropriately imitated Middle Eastern accents,” during a March 23, 2017, conversation with co-workers.
Pritpal Gill testified that he was not offended by the comments, which were directed at him. He said the Strathcona workers often joked with each other that way, and outsiders may have considered such comments as wrong, but he didn’t.
Both incidents of Zaplotinsky leaving his post were grieved by the union, Unifor, Local 21-A.
For the Dec. 22 incident, the union argued that Zaplotinsky had completed his shift handover, but he was wrong to remove his PPE while still inside the safety zone. He deserved punishment, said the union, but not an unpaid suspension of four 12-hour shifts.
However, the employer insisted that during the subsequent investigation into the event, Zaplotinsky’s answers were not forthcoming.
But, said the union, Zaplotinsky had completed his shift handover properly and he thought he was being questioned on that basis, which explained his answers. Zaplotinsky said he removed his PPE to start his car, so he wouldn’t transfer chemical smells into his new truck.
For the second and culminating incident, the union argued Zaplotinsky was OK to leave his post without securing a relief operator because he had not been asked by Bryan Carter, process field supervisor, to work extra overtime to cover the important post of alky 1.
“The evidence with respect to the April 22 night shift was that it was discovered early on that the post needed to be filled. The callouts that the supervisor had made had failed to find anybody,” said the union.
Arbitrator Francis Price upheld the grievance and ordered the employer to reinstate Zaplotinsky.
“In this case, I am satisfied that the termination was unwarranted. (Zaplotinsky’s) conduct on April 23, 2017, did not provide any just or reasonable cause for any discipline.”
For the December 2016 incident, “The issue of safety referenced in the first grievance, namely the failure to wear PPE and carry a radio, did warrant discipline, but on the facts of this case, warrant only the minor suspension,” said Price, who ordered the employer to substitute four unpaid shifts with two unpaid shifts as a suspension, and to pay Zaplotinsky for the Jan. 9 and 10 shifts.
The second and culminating discipline was caused by the employer, said the arbitrator, and Zaplotinsky should not have been blamed in any way.
“In this case, the evidence shows that with nine hours left in the shift, the controller, Carter, knew he would be short one alky position for the following shift,” said Price.
"Common sense suggests that he would have asked (Zaplotinsky) (as the alky 1 on the current shift) to stay on to cover some of the next shift,” said Price.
“Carter had plenty of time and opportunity to ask or direct (Zaplotinsky) to stay over. Yet there was no request or direction to (Zaplotinsky) to stay on. (Zaplotinsky) thought that he wasn’t needed for the following shift, since no one had asked him to stay.”
Reference: Imperial Oil and Unifor, Local 21-A. Francis Price — arbitrator. David Corry, Amy-Lynn Kosick for the employer. John R. Carpenter, Wassila Semaine for the employee. Jan. 31, 2018. 2018 CarswellAlta 188
