PTSD diagnosis doesn’t get Ontario worker out of discipline

An Ontario arbitrator has upheld a worker’s three-day suspension for damaging employer property, despite the fact the worker was later diagnosed with PTSD.

The worker was a staff sergeant employed as an operational manager with the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General at the Thorold, Ont., Detention Centre (TDC).

In 2018, the worker began experiencing difficulty sleeping, mood swings, hypervigilance and a short temper. In the summer of 2018, he suffered an adverse emotional reaction when a coworker removed his drink from the employee refrigerator. As a result, the worker took a medical leave of absence on July 2.

The worker’s doctor cleared him to return to work on July 24 on a trial basis, with the doctor reassessing the worker after four weeks.

The worker reported for work on July 25 and advised the TDC superintendent about his ongoing health issues. He requested that he be removed from “an inmate-facing role,” but the superintendent declined to do so.

On the worker’s first day, he started feeling “frustrated and angry with the manner in which daily operations were being conducted and how deficiencies in such had become acceptable.” He was particularly troubled by staffing shortages that he felt left the TDC operating in dangerous circumstances.

Two days later, on July 27, the worker was assigned to the “control room” with two colleagues. At the beginning of his shift, he dumped the office garbage bin on the floor and punched a computer monitor. He then burst into tears and remained in an emotionally fragile state for the rest of his shift. The computer monitor cost $300 to replace.

The ministry investigated the incident and found that the worker had committed two workplace infractions — damaging the employer’s property and violating two of its policies, the Code of Conduct and Professionalism and the Respectful Workplace Policy. The worker admitted to the property damage and explained that he was under “a significant amount of stress.”

He voiced concerns about staffing levels and other management decisions that he felt weren’t being made in the best interest of “front-line management.” However, he got upset about the allegation of breaching workplace policies and he had a terse exchange with the superintendent.

On Aug. 23, the worker’s doctor advised that the worker was unable to perform “regular duties due to a medical illness” for nine days. The TDC granted the worker’s request for accommodation by removing him from an inmate- facing role on Oct. 4.

On Oct. 15, the worker was suspended for three days for the July incident. The suspension letter noted that he had accepted responsibility for the property damage but his response to the allegations was “aggressive in nature.”

The worker took a six-week medical leave in November and December, and on March 13, 2019, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to his work experience at the TDC.

The union grieved the suspension, arguing that the ministry failed to take into consideration the worker’s medical condition when it imposed discipline.

The arbitrator found that the evidence supported the fact that the worker suffered from PTSD but the employer only had “limited clinical knowledge” of his health status — the information was “limited to brief notes” from the worker’s doctor and brief comments by the worker at the investigation meeting. In addition, there was no medical information establishing a causal link between the worker’s misconduct and his PTSD diagnosis several months later, said the arbitrator.

The arbitrator also found that since the worker acknowledged that he had damaged employer property, he should have appreciated that the conduct violated workplace policies rather than become upset.

The arbitrator considered that the worker was in a position of authority and his actions were in front of coworkers, so it was serious enough that a three-day suspension was reasonable.