Felt other employees were gossiping about husband's behaviour
A customer service representative (CSR) said she discovered an email printout in a recycling bin, and she believed her coworkers were making disparaging comments about her.
Irene Bergen had worked at Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC) since 1995, when on Jan. 4, 2016, she said she discovered a printed email message between Luanne Todd, manager of the Leader, Sask., office and Lana Watts, another CSR.
The series of messages took umbrage with Bergen’s husband, who had previously used the SCIC photocopier.
After Bergen read the email string, she became upset and wanted to discuss with Watts why it had happened. So on Feb. 26, she confronted Watts and told her Todd had said Watts was disturbed about how often Bergen’s husband came to the office.
Watts denied the allegation.
Eventually, on March 1, Bergen, Todd and Watts had a meeting to discuss the email and its contents. It was left unresolved as to how the email came to light.
Later, Watts concluded Bergen had logged into her computer at some point and accessed her personal email account and printed the email string herself. When she was confronted with the accusation,
Bergen denied accessing Watts’ computer.
Bergen continued to maintain she found the document in a recycling bin. But Watts insisted she never printed the email.
On July 6, Watts and Bergen were the only two workers in the office that day. Watts had some work that involved being away from her computer for the afternoon.
But when she came back to the computer at 5:15 p.m. to check her email, she found the account was locked. The following morning, Watts called the IT help desk and was advised someone tried to access her account unsuccessfully at 1:10 p.m. the previous day, which caused it to lock up.
She notified management about it and said she wanted someone to find out what happened.
After an investigation, Dustin Godfrey, IT specialist, discovered Bergen’s computer was used to access another employee’s Microsoft Outlook email program when he wasn’t in the office on July 6, and he found Bergen’s computer was the source of the lockout of Watts’ computer.
After an investigation with the other employee, Jim Coulter, it was revealed he had shared his password in the past with Bergen. He was advised that employees were not to do so and he was given a verbal warning.
A Sept. 9 meeting was set up with Bergen and Gail Audette-Sand, SCIC regional manager, and two other managers. During the meeting, Bergen was asked multiple times why she had accessed two other employees’ accounts, which was a breach of the privacy and security policy.
Again, she denied doing so.
Audette-Sand decided to dismiss Bergen via a letter: “You have violated the confidentiality of your coworker by accessing his computer account. You were dishonest throughout the entire interview and provided no reasonable explanation of how the unauthorized entries occurred.”
On Sept. 13, the union, the Saskatchewan Government & General Employees’ Union, grieved the firing and argued it was too harsh considering Bergen’s long service and lack of discipline in the past.
Arbitrator Anne Wallace denied the grievance.
“The breach of policy, the lies, the explanations, and the lack of real remorse or acceptance of responsibility confirm the employer’s conclusion that the employment relationship and the trust between
Bergen and SCIC are irreparable. SCIC was justified in terminating Bergen’s employment.”
Bergen’s actions at the various meetings and at the arbitration hearing showed she hadn’t fully owned up to her misdeed, said Wallace. “When she was caught in the breach, Bergen lied about it multiple times, and when she finally did admit what she had done, she now has explanations for lying which do not withstand scrutiny. Bergen’s approach and her attitude at the hearing demonstrate she has not taken responsibility for what she did.”
Reference: Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation and Saskatchewan Government & General Employees’ Union. Anne Wallace — arbitrator. Gordon Hamilton for the employer. Larry Buchinski, Alan Evans for the employee. May 13, 2017.
