Employer must accommodate welder's schedule based on family status
As a single working mother of two toddlers, Renee Cahill-Saunders is no stranger to a busy schedule. But the constantly alternating day and night shift work as an apprentice welder at a manufacturing plant in Fort McMurray, Alta., proved to be too much to handle in addition to caring for her children.
After her request to only work day shifts was denied by her employer, SMS Equipment, Cahill-Saunders filed a grievance, claiming she was discriminated against on the basis of family status. And the arbitrator agreed.
Operations at the plant, which manufactures equipment, parts and service to the construction, mining and petrochemical industries, run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As with most other employees, Cahill-Saunders worked a 14 days on and 14 days off schedule (with a rotating day and night shift schedule for each 14-day period), back when she was hired in 2010. In 2011, her schedule changed to seven days on, seven days off, again rotating day and night shifts.
However, the erratic schedule was too much for her to handle – especially being the single mother of two young boys. During each seven-week period, she had to seek third-party childcare during the days and nights she is at work. But if she worked at night, she would watch her children during the day, which resulted in her getting a lack of sleep for the night shifts. Cahill-Saunders argued it was too expensive to pay for additional childcare during those days, and that she was not comfortable having her children in the care of a third-party for extended periods of time.
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) union filed a grievance on her behalf. It argued that, by refusing to accommodate her request to work only day shifts, the employer violated the collective agreement’s provision concerning discrimination based on family status, as well as the Alberta Human Rights Act.
On the other hand, SMS Equipment argued it was not legally obligated to accommodate the worker because the requirement to work a rotating night and day schedule was not discrimination.
Lyle Kanee, the arbitrator presiding over the case, sided with Cahill-Saunders.
Working in a man’s world
Perhaps not surprisingly, women face unique challenges in the labour market. According to the CEP, women are significantly underrepresented in blue-collar and trades work, making up just four per cent of all construction trades in Canada. Typically, compared to men, more women take on family responsibilities rather than join the workforce. As a result, traditional workplace hours and schedules do not mesh with the schedule of a working mother, let alone a single working mother, the union said.
And while SMS Equipment argued there were plenty of affordable and provincially-regulated childcare options and assistance available for the worker — even going as far as to draft a budget based on her income — Kanee determined "family status" indeed includes the duties and responsibilities of childcare.
In this case, Cahill-Saunders’ parenting responsibilities were extraordinary, Kanee said.
"She is a single mother of two children under the age of six, with no childcare support from the children’s fathers or any other family members," he said in his decision. "She is working a non-traditional job (female welder) on a non-traditional shift (nights) in a non-traditional pattern (rotating). These are not the circumstances of ‘ordinary’ working parents. Further, being a single working parent, which is the grievor’s status, brings unique challenges to parenting."
The CEP established the welder’s schedule had an adverse impact on her life.
Kanee ruled that, while the duty to accommodate is an ongoing responsibility as circumstances change, SMS Equipment will permit Cahill-Saunders to work straight day shifts.
Reference: SMS Equipment and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union Local 707. Lyle Kanee – sole arbitrator. Dwayne Chomyn and Terri Susan Zurbrigg for the employer. Michelle Westgeest for the union. Oct. 29, 2013.
