Kingston employee gets schooled on education

Larry Steacy, a part-time employee with the city of Kingston, Ont., was refused a job interview because of his resumé.

The city denied Steacy the opportunity to interview for a full-time position because his resumé indicated he lacked the educational qualifications required.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 109 grieved on Steacy’s behalf, arguing his position as a part-time driver/labourer clearly demonstrated he was qualified to perform the duties of a full-time driver/labourer. The educational requirement should have posed no barrier, it said.

Steacy was hired by the city’s Public Workers Department in 2007 and is the most senior part-time driver/labourer in the bargaining unit. In November 2012 Steacy applied to an internal job posting for a full-time position. The posting contained a list of various required qualifications and "skills, abilities, work demands." One of the requirements was that applicants posses "Grade 12 diploma or equivalent education."

The minimum educational requirement was introduced in 2010. It applies to all promotions and positions with the city, though employees currently occupying a position who did not possess the minimum education were "grand-parented."

In its grievance the union did not challenge the legitimacy of the basic educational requirement. Instead, it argued the requirement did not apply where an employee wishes to move from a part-time to a full-time position within the same work group.

Furthermore, the city did not suggest the duties of a full-time driver/labourer differ in any way from those of a part-time driver/labourer, the union said.

Steacy should be awarded the position through arbitration, the union said, as he was the senior applicant and there was no doubt as to his ability to perform the work in question.

But the city argued employers are entitled to set qualifications.

The qualifications must be respected unless a union can demonstrate they do not relate to the job in question or are unreasonable. The "grand-parent" exception has never been applied to a situation similar to Steacy’s, the city said, and this type of exception is not required by the collective agreement.

Prior to the arbitration, Steacy was advised by the Limestone District School Board that while he would be given credit for life learning/experience, he remained two credits short of qualifying for an Ontario High School Equivalency Certificate. Steacy can obtain the two credits by completing an online course.

At the hearing, the union argued sole arbitrator James Hayes should find Steacy actually meets the educational requirements.

"If Mr. Steacy had staked a claim of equivalence and, if the employer had refused to consider it, this arbitration would have had a different focus," Hayes said in his ruling.

However, "The principal pre-hearing argument was, not that the grievor possessed Grade 12 equivalence, but that the educational requirement was irrelevant… Applicants had some obligation to at least claim that this minimum qualification could be met in some way. Mr. Steacy failed to do this."

Because Steacy’s resumé failed to make any reference to secondary school education or equivalence of any kind, Hayes ruled, the city had every right to deny his application and the grievance was dismissed.