Company acted differently after another altercation
After grabbing another worker around the neck to remove him from a forklift, an Alberta warehouse worker was fired.
Steve Urbanski had been employed by Federated Co-Operatives (FCL ) for 23 years as a receiver in a warehouse.
But on May 10, 2016, he approached Robert Grant, who was using a Raymond dock stocker, and said he needed to use it immediately. Urbanski was using another forklift but the one Grant was using was better for the job he was doing, according to Urbanski.
An argument broke out and Urbanski tried to physically remove Grant from the forklift. The incident was witnessed by several employees.
“He was choking me and I couldn’t breathe. I then relaxed a bit and he relaxed too. I got free. I thought he was going to kill me,” said Grant.
Urbanski said Grant grabbed a knife and said, “I ought to slit your throat.”
But no witnesses reported seeing a knife.
Supervisor Mike Hauser watched a video of the incident after being alerted to it by Grant. Hauser approached Urbanski and escorted him out of the warehouse, sending him home for the rest of the shift.
Later that night, Urbanski wrote an apology letter and called another supervisor to request it be sent to Grant.
During a May 16 meeting, the letter was handed out to supervisors, but Urbanski was let go.
“I was completely out of order. I have learned from this. It was not in my character. Mistakes happen,” said Urbanski during the meeting. He said that he had been under great stress at home due to various family members (including his wife) who were suffering from health problems.
He also blamed Grant for “egging me on at the time” of the forklift fight.
The union, Teamsters Local Union 987, grieved the dismissal. It said a previous incident between two workers (Luke Gordon and Brett Toews) — which was addressed under the company’s workplace violence policy — resulted in suspensions, not termination.
The company countered and said Urbanski was the only one present who mentioned a knife and he only apologized for the incident well after the fact.
Arbitrator Roger Gunn upheld the grievance and substituted a six-week suspension. But he ruled Urbanski should be posted to a different warehouse location.
“Urbanski’s record did not contain any previous incidents of fighting or violent behaviour in his 23 years’ service with the company. The discipline meted out to
Gordon and Toews by the company shows how FCL dealt with fighting in the workplace. Both were given the choice of a 10-day suspension and mandatory counselling or termination, one of whom chose termination,” said Gunn.
The allegation that Grant brandished a knife was dismissed by the arbitrator. “One can only conclude that Urbanski fabricated this story, perhaps to make Grant look like he was equally violent in the altercation. This puts into question the credibility of Urbanski’s testimony,” said Gunn.
The incident was not an ongoing character flaw of Urbanski, said Gunn, but instead “the altercation was a momentary flare-up.”
Urbanski had six letters of discipline between September 2005 and November 2015, but none were for violence. “The company did not argue this was a culminating incident on top of all the other disciplinary letters Urbanski had been given. Perhaps my award would have been different had they done so,” said Gunn.
Reference: Federated Co-Operatives and Operations and Teamsters Local Union 987. Roger Gunn — arbitrator. Tom Ross for the employer. Clayton Cook for the employee. April 17, 2017.
