Steward continued to post notices accusing manager of bullying
An arbitrator has upheld the one-day suspension of a British Columbia worker for putting up posters at work accusing management of bullying after being told to stop.
Linda Larson was an employee at the Nanaimo, B.C., location of Coast Hotels, a hotel chain based in Vancouver. She was with the company for 20 years, the last 10 as a chief shop steward for her union, UNITE-HERE.
In 2014, the general manager of the hotel where Larson worked conducted disciplinary meetings with the human resources advisor and four individual
employees. The meetings were held in the hotel lounge, where staff at the front desk and customers could hear. Larson, as the chief shop steward, attended the meetings and asked each time why they were being held in the lounge. At one of the meetings, the HR advisor responded that her office was too messy; the other times she didn’t provide a reason.
Some employees were upset following these meetings, according to Larson who claimed one employee went on a medical leave and one had a “nervous breakdown” after the meetings. She didn’t file a complaint under Coast Hotels’ workplace harassment and bullying policy because she felt that it wouldn’t be taken seriously.
In April 2015, Larson returned from a vacation to discover more discipline had been imposed. Feeling the need to do something, Larson created two hand-written posters and put them on the union bulletin board in the staff room.
One of the posters read “Topic — Bullies” and “Shame on Coast Hotel for allowing a GM to Bully.” The second read: “There is only one thing I hate in this world and that’s a Bully. There can be no more discipline in our lounge by our GM. No more fear and intimidation. We stand strong. We stand together. This will STOP. Your shop chair is back and I say SHAME.”
The HR advisor felt the posters contained serious allegations and it wasn’t appropriate to put them up, as they didn’t follow the proper process for complaints — which protected the confidentiality of everyone involved. The posters directly referred to the hotel’s general manager.
The HR advisor reminded Larson of the complaint procedure and not to use the union bulletin board for such allegations.
UNITE-HERE’s regional representative emailed the HR advisor to protest the removal of the posters, arguing the company didn’t have the right to remove material from the union bulletin board. The collective agreement said the company must provide a bulletin board “for the exclusive use of the union.”
Coast Hotels gave Larson a letter directing her to comply with the harassment policy. Shortly after, she put up two more notices on the union bulletin board.
The next day, April 10, Larson put up another notice stating “Unfair discipline by our GM No Justice! No Peace!”
The HR advisor called an investigative meeting on April 13, where Larson acknowledged she had posted the notices, had been informed she wasn’t supposed to do so, and was aware of other ways to address bullying in the workplace. A week later, Coast Hotels suspended Larson for one day without pay for insubordination.
Notices protected under labour relations laws: Union
UNITE-HERE grieved the suspension, arguing the company didn’t have just cause because the notices were protected union communications under the B.C. Labour Relations Code.
Arbitrator Kate Young noted that insubordination could be defined as “the flouting of a clear order of a person in authority.” She found the HR advisor’s order was clear and understood by Larson as outlined in the letter of understanding Larson was given following the first two notices.
Larson claimed her purpose in posting the notices was to bring the issue of bullying to the attention of the head office.
Young agreed that Larson clearly wanted the disciplinary meetings in the lounge to stop and she believed that the general manager was a bully.
However, while the last notice didn’t include the word “bully,” it still accused the general manager of bullying behaviour, Young said.
“I find that the notices posted on April 9 and 10 were inconsistent with the direction given earlier on April 9 that Ms. Larson not post allegations of workplace bullying,” said Young.
Young also found that Larson was entitled to dispute the order not to post bulletins, just as she was entitled to file a complaint under the bullying policy. However, she did not have the right to interpret the collective agreement on her own,” Young said.
The arbitrator also found that, while the bulletin board was for union use, the employer had the right to place limitations upon the information posted on its premises within view of its employees.
“The employer is under an obligation to provide a workplace which is free of harassment and bullying,” said Young. “Accusing the general manager of bullying could reasonably be considered hurtful, embarrassing and humiliating.”
Young determined Coast Hotels did not violate the collective agreement when it ordered Larson to refrain from posting notices alleging bullying against the general manager.
There was no reason for Larson to believe that following the complaint process wouldn’t yield results. She had been aware of the disciplinary meetings for months and didn’t file any grievances at the time, despite her claims of employees being upset to the point of breakdown, said Young.
Larson was not immune from discipline because she was acting in her capacity as a union official when she posted the notice. Her actions were harmful to the legitimate interests of Coast Hotels in protection its managers from “inflammatory and abusive accusations” and didn’t serve to protect union members who were already protected by the collective agreement and its procedures, said Young in upholding the one-day suspension.
“She was not acting within the realm of protected union communication, nor engaged in a legitimate union activity, when she sought to humiliate, embarrass and shame the general manager and the hotel management,” said Young.
For more information see:
• Coast Hotels Ltd. and UNITE-HERE, Local 40 (Larson), Re, 2016 CarswellBC 2885 (B.C. Arb.).
