Maple Ridge, B.C. recycling worker punished after leaving job site during overtime

A British Columbia employer wrongly disciplined a worker who was denied his right to refuse overtime and left after working some overtime, an arbitrator has ruled.

Ridge Meadows Recycling Society operates a recycling depot in Maple Ridge, B.C. The collective agreement allowed employees the right to refuse overtime based on seniority, as long as “trucks are staffed until the completion of all routes.” Employees were required to advise the supervisor by noon if they were unable to work until the route was completed.

Mike Anderson was a process mentor for Ridge Meadows since  1999. He was the second-most senior employee. He had a leadership role and he was qualified to operate all equipment and park trucks.

On Nov. 18, 2020, Ridge Meadows experienced a “double day” — a day with increased volume because the previous week had a holiday. On double days, it took extra time to finish collection, unloading, and truck parking, so some employees had to work overtime. The collections supervisor wrote on a whiteboard that morning that “only staff involved in peeling [unloading] and parking would have to stay and that process workers starting at 9 a.m. must stay.”

Anderson suffered from ongoing pain that required medication dispensed in limited amounts. On Nov. 18, he had to pick up a prescription refill at his pharmacy. He told the collections supervisor at the start of his 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift that he couldn’t stay to the end of the process because he had to go to the pharmacy before it closed. Anderson had not worked overtime on a double day since February 2019.

The depot manager arrived at 9 a.m. and changed the whiteboard message to say that all process workers must stay until all the trucks were done, as dictated by the operations manager. Anderson told the depot manager a short time later that he couldn’t stay late because he had to pick up his prescription.

The operations manager arrived a short time later and reiterated that all depot workers had to stay and work overtime, as it was easier than going by seniority. Anderson called the pharmacy and found out it closed at 7 p.m., so he said he could work some overtime but had to leave in time to get there. The depot manager said “Do what you have to do.”

Anderson completed his shift and worked for more than an hour afterwards. Around 6 p.m., he told the depot manager that he had to leave. The manager said he would be leaving without authority, so Anderson said to write him up and left. They finished parking the trucks about an hour later.

Two days later, Ridge Meadows issued a final written warning to Anderson for leaving work without authority. The normal discipline for such misconduct was a three-day suspension but the company opted to give him the warning as Anderson had no prior discipline. The union grieved the warning.

The arbitrator found that the operations manager issued a directive that workers couldn’t exercise seniority rights to refuse overtime. Although Anderson had spoken to the collections manager, when the directive was issued his choices were to leave early and face any consequences or seek an accommodation after he found out when the pharmacy closed, said the arbitrator.

However, the arbitrator also found that there was no evidence of an operational need for Anderson to work overtime or that his departure couldn’t be accommodated.

The arbitrator determined that Anderson believed he had permission to leave after working some overtime and he stayed as long as he could. He couldn’t be disciplined for leaving without authority during overtime when he was there because the employer didn’t allow him the right to refuse overtime, said the arbitrator. Ridge Meadows was ordered to expunge the warning from Anderson’s record.