No 'practical guidance and instruction' available: Arbitrator
After a reorganization, six occupational therapists who worked in community mental health in Kamloops, B.C., were moved into a lower-rated grade 1 slot from grade 2.
Laura Kitamura, Michelle Zwolak, Joel Chisholm, Jillian McCormick, Karin Schmidt and Jennifer Sheeley were originally classified as grade 2, which covered “an occupational therapist required by the facility to work without general supervision in the department and who may be required to supervise,” but on April 1, 2013, they were put into new positions.
Grade 1 therapists were categorized as “an occupational therapist working under the general supervision of another occupational therapist.”
As a result of the move, the therapists were slotted into a different pay structure, although their positions were red-circled and they continued to be paid at their original salaries.
However, the union, the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union grieved the new classification and argued the workers did not work under close supervision, but performed some of their work alone.
The therapists worked as paramedicals for patients who were looking to re-enter the workforce. The patients suffered from mental health or substance abuse issues, which the six therapists treated.
All of the therapists under the new classification reported to Klaus Mey, professional practice leader for occupational therapy, under the new structure.
Sheeley testified that one time a patient required medication to treat paranoid schizophrenia, so she asked Mey how to obtain new pills. Because the question was beyond his abilities to fully answer, Mey referred Sheeley to the acting manager for community mental health, a registered nurse, and received proper guidance.
Kitamura testified she worked with Mey for years, but he didn’t write a mental health exam that was one of four ongoing tests required by the College of Occupational Therapists of British Columbia.
Therapists chose one of the four disciplines and completed the test, but Mey never wrote the exam under the mental health category.
As a result, according to the union, the therapists were ostensibly supervised in a general manner by Mey, but because he could not provide certain specific instructions when something out of their competency came up, the therapists were essentially working under the grade 2 structure.
Arbitrator John Kinzie upheld the grievances and ordered “wage rates and benefits should be adjusted accordingly and they should be compensated for any lost wages and benefits suffered as a result of their positions being wrongly reclassified.”
Because Mey was not able to provide the paramedical workers with specific guidance to ameliorate their workload, the therapists’ jobs were more challenging. “In my view, the six positions occupied by the grievors are required to work without general supervision. Thus, the classification of their positions at the grade 1 level is not justified and for the same reason their positions are more appropriately classified at the grade 2 level,” said Kinzie.
Mey wasn’t able to offer the therapists actual supervision when certain issues arose, according to Kinzie.
“Based on the evidence I have heard, the grievors are performing their work in mental health and substance use without general supervision. There has been no supervisor identified who is within the Allied Health West department who is capable of providing the grievors with the practical guidance and instruction they need to address ‘unclear situations and/or those which deviate from established practices and procedures’ pertaining to mental health and substance use issues,” said Kinzie.
"The supervisor identified by the employer for this role, i.e. Mey, does not, in my view, have the training and experience to provide that guidance and instruction,” said Kinzie.
Reference: Interior Health Authority and B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union. John Kinzie — arbitrator. David Louie for the employer. Britt Skinner for the employee. Aug. 25, 2017.
