Inspector instigated two fights in two years
After a second incident between a City of Toronto municipal construction inspector and two of his colleagues, the worker was dismissed.
The worker had worked for the city for almost seven years, when he was let go after an April 29, 2016, altercation with a contract worker.
In the first incident on Dec. 22, 2014, the worker met Yan He, electrical technician, outside of a laundry area where workers were allowed to clean their own clothes while on duty. When he saw He with an armful of clothes, the worker advised him his laundry was being done and he would have to wait until the machines were finished to do his own load.
He returned to the room an hour and a half later and placed the worker’s washed clothes onto a plastic bag, which he had set up on a table.
About 15 minutes later, the worker approached He in the hallway and said he shouldn’t have removed his clothes. He said the next time that happened, he would dump He’s clothes onto the floor.
The discussion became heated and the worker told He they should step outside. He didn’t want to and a shoving match broke out. He’s left eye was hit during the altercation and he started bleeding.
The fight ended, and He cleaned up the wound. He initially left the site but returned and advised a supervisor what happened.
Police arrived on the scene, but no charges were laid.
After an investigation, the worker was given a 10-day suspension beginning on March 6, 2015. He received no discipline for his role in the fight.
The 2016 incident took place at a work site where the worker was inspecting the progress of an outside contractor, Co-X-Co Construction, which was completing a service connection to a private property.
Sal Sassano, a backhoe operator at Co-X-Co, was backfilling a new pipe when the worker approached him and told him the material he was using was not suitable.
After the discussion heated up, Stephen Rizzo, owner of the property, testified the worker said to Sassano, “Do you want a piece of me? Let’s go,” as an invitation to fight.
The worker removed his hat and vest and the two continued the discussion on the ground, after Sassano left the seat of the backhoe cab.
As he went back into the cab, Sassano called the worker a “junkie.” the worker grabbed Sassano and twice hit him in the back of the head with his forearm, as Sassano yelled, “Call the police!”
The worker claimed Sassano aggressively wielded a glass Perrier water bottle but Rizzo and another Co-X-Co worker denied this happened.
In his dismissal letter after a May 11 investigation meeting, the worker was relieved of duty as he “engaged in a physical altercation with a contractor in public view.”
The union, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 79, grieved both the suspension and the termination.
Arbitrator Tatiana Wacyk dismissed both grievances.
“There is simply no basis on which to relieve against the grievor’s termination. His inability to control his anger has resulted in conduct which is completely unacceptable.
"An employee — who on two separate occasions physically attacked persons in the workplace — particularly when at least one of those attacks resulted in an injury, could expect to have their employment terminated and that termination upheld.”
It was suggested by the city that the worker should attend anger management counselling after the first incident, but he didn’t, according to Wacyk. “Unfortunately, their efforts to help the grievor help himself fell on deaf ears. As of the last date of this hearing in mid-July 2017, the grievor had still not enrolled in or taken an anger management course.”
Reference: Toronto (City) and Canadian Union Of Public Employees, Local 79. Tatiana Wacyk — arbitrator. Kerri Kitchura and Swarna Perinparajah for the employer. Doug Wray for the employee. Aug. 18, 2017.
