Adult ADHD diagnosis disclosed
A worker with 14 years’ service at a Dieppe, N.B., deli meats company broke critical rules regarding food safety by going the wrong way through a smokehouse.
Robert Daniel was terminated Sept. 29, 2016, after Bonté Foods determined he violated the company’s strict food safety policy.
Daniel was working as a raw food specialist — meaning he should not enter the ready-to-eat (RTE) or cooked food areas — while working with raw food. But on Sept. 28, he did so and violated the company’s policies.
He had been working under a last-chance agreement, after two previous suspensions and a warning when he committed the violation.
A letter he was given by Coleen Aldred, human resource coordinator, said Daniel was “not following proper flow and going into a raw zone when the flow light indicates a RTE zone, then returning to the RTE zone.”
The union, Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCT), Local 406, grieved the decision and argued Daniel had been diagnosed with adult attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD ) on April 11, 2011, and had been prescribed Ritalin ever since.
He said he told the company about his diagnosis, but Barbara Anne O’Brien, Bonté's executive vice-president, testified the company wasn’t aware of the diagnosis until a Nov. 17 letter was received, well after he was let go.
O’Brien said the company knew Daniel made mistakes, but no request for accommodation was ever made. Glen Peddle, raw meat manager, confirmed Daniel told him about his ADHD sometime in 2011 shortly after he was diagnosed, but nothing further came of it.
As for the incident that led to his firing, Daniel admitted he committed a “wrong procedure” by entering a door the incorrect way, but he said he washed his hands and put on a proper cloak, as per the protocol.
A licenced psychologist, identified as “MM,” said the fact another employee opened the door for Daniel would provide enough of a distraction for someone with Daniel’s condition to make an impulsive and ultimately poor decision.
But the company argued Daniel’s continued employment would impose undue hardship especially with raw meat and cross-contamination, which in extreme cases could cause death. It also said because neither Daniel nor the union ever asked for accommodation around an ADHD disability, the company could be sanctioned for a human rights violation.
Arbitrator Robert Breen upheld the grievance and ordered Daniel returned to employment, but not on the raw food line.
"It is clear to me that the so-called ‘raw’ is a work environment that Daniel ought not to return to, even with accommodation measures. I am satisfied that there exist too many variables present or likely to be present to consider this work placement reliable or safe for Daniel, or for Bonté, on his re-entry to the plant."
The company had a responsibility to consider the mental health of an employee who continued making minor mistakes that lead to his last-chance agreement and subsequent dismissal, said Breen.
“Bonté therefore both knew and ought to have known of Daniel’s disability as a related problem, as a causal link. I find that Bonté ought reasonably to have posed the questions: ‘What is going on? Is there a problem? Is what is happening linked to the/a disorder?’”
As such, the last-chance agreement was ordered removed from Daniel’s employment record. “Given my finding as to Daniel’s recurring, disability-related events, it appears the foundations of the last-chance agreement are now fractured,” said Breen.
Daniel was ordered to continue to seek treatment for his ADHD condition which should help him successfully return to Bonté Foods, according to Breen.
Reference: Bonté Foods and Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCT), Local 406. Robert Breen — arbitrator. Sylvie Michaud for the employer. Brenda Comeau for the employee. Feb. 21, 2017.
