Repeated incidents of yelling, swearing warrants termination

An Alberta arbitrator has upheld the suspension of a worker who swore at and threatened a coworker.

Richard Parisian worked as a sorter for Purolator at the Calgary Freight Terminal. In May 2020, Parisian was suspended for five days after a violent interaction with another employee.

On Jan. 15, 2021, Parisian worked an overnight shift ending at 7 a.m., during which they were expecting three trailers to unload. However, they soon learned that the third trailer was expected to arrive between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. It was common practice for the overnight shift to leave trailers that came in at 5 a.m. or later for the next shift, but Parisian wanted to do it because there were no dock staff on shift until noon. The other three employees on duty wanted to leave it.

Parisian noticed that one of the other employees, Harb Dhariwal, had closed two of the loading doors. Parisian asked Dhariwal, who was operating a forklift, to keep them open so that he could service the last trailer. Dhariwal said he still had runs to do, so Parisian started to walk away. Dhariwal made a quick turn with his forklift drove close to Parisian. According to Parisian, he was surprised and said: “You have to watch yourself,” as Dhariwal went by.

When the operations manager arrived at 6 a.m., Dhariwal reported that Parisian had angrily confronted him, yelling: “You don’t want to f--- with me or you’ll be sorry. Stay the f--- out of my way.” He added that Parisian had slapped the back of the forklift as he drove away and swore at him again. He denied spinning the forklift in an unsafe manner and claimed that Parisian deliberately approached it.

Dhariwal also reported that when he was speaking with another employee a short time later, Parisian shouted at him: “You had better watch yourself.” He provided a written statement saying that Parisian had been “hostile and confrontational” before and he wouldn’t want to work with him again.

Purolator investigated and the third employee confirmed that Parisian had yelled at Dhariwal during the initial conversation and again during his own conversation with Dhariwal.

Parisian denied using threatening or vulgar language and said he had handled things professionally. He also claimed any reaction was due to Dhariwal’s unsafe operation of the forklift. He denied making any vulgar or threatening statements.

Purolator reviewed security video footage — which had no audio — and determined that Parisian’s body language and actions were consistent with Dhariwal’s report. Parisian acknowledged that he “may have been provoked to say something” because of the way Dhariwal had operated the forklift.

Purolator determined that Dhariwal’s claim was true and terminated Parisian’s employment for breaching its Workplace Relationship Policy and Workplace Violence and Harassment Prevention Policy for the second time in less than a year. The union argued that Purolator didn’t have just cause.

The arbitrator noted that Dhariwal’s version of events was corroborated by another employee and the security video. As a result, the arbitrator found that Parisian uttered the comments, which violated Purolator’s policies. Both Dhariwal and the other employee perceived the statements as threats, the arbitrator said.

The arbitrator also found that Parisian’s misconduct was similar to that for which he was suspended less than one year earlier. It wasn’t impulsive and Parisian showed no remorse, so there was no reason to substitute a lesser penalty, the arbitrator said.

“[Parisian’s] action in the current climate which prioritizes the safety of the workplace and the respectful treatment of others in the workplace was serious misconduct,” said the arbitrator in dismissing the grievance, adding that the short period of time since his previous discipline “was sufficient to cause the employer not to proceed with further progressive discipline but to move to termination.”