Union called decision 'arbitrary and unreasonable'
A clerk in a North Vancouver liquor store abruptly had her time-off denied days before it was supposed to happen.
Jana Durikova started working for the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) in 2007 and worked at the Westview Liquor Store. On July 27, 2014, she took a year-long maternity leave.
Durikova then took more time off via the extended child care leave as written in the collective agreement.
Each time she was off, (Mr.) Balahadia, a part-time worker covered Durikova’s full-time hours.
On June 10, 2015, Durikova phoned Susan Quan, who worked in the agency’s human resources department, to request an upaid leave of absence starting after the extended child care leave ended, which was Jan. 23, 2016.
She said she wanted to spend more time with her young daughter and teach her Slovakian, her native language.
Two days later, Quan said the leave was approved pending confirmation from (Mr.) Crozier, the store manager and regional manager (Mr.) Castaneto.
The leave was eventually approved but Durikova decided to change the leave from child care to general absence.
On Nov. 19, Castaneto responded to an email about the leave and said only “I approve.”
However, on Nov. 25, Castaneto told Durikova the leave might not be approved as it was being questioned inside the human resources department.
Finally, on Dec. 15, a letter was sent formally denying the request for leave. “Based on the information you have provided, your request is not deemed by the above-mentioned article to be an emergency or unusual circumstance. Therefore, the employer cannot approve your request for general leave of absence.”
Durikova was ordered to return to work Jan. 24, 2016, and she did.
But on June 14, Durikova again requested one year off without pay “to take care of family matters.”
On July 14, new regional manager, (Mr.) Hatch, denied the leave and cited “operational requirements of the store” for not allowing it to happen, even though no employees were canvassed as being able to fill in for Durikova while she was away.
On July 28, Durikova’s union, the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union, grieved the denial and said it was “arbitrary and unreasonable; based on a misinterpretation of the collective agreement; and, clearly approved by management.”
Because the regional manager approved the leave, argued the union, it should be binding upon the employer.
The LDB countered and said the manager did not have the authority to grant a 12-month leave and he made an error approving the absence. It also said Durikova already had sufficient time off to care for her child.
Arbitrator Corinn Bell allowed the grievance and said denying the request because she had already taken time off to care for her child was invalid.
“The very fact that an employee is on a maternity leave or extended child care leave does not disqualify that employee from requesting the leave pursuant to the collective agreement," said Bell.
The employer also didn’t properly advise Durikova on how to structure a leave request that might be approved.
“It is clear that Durikova was not advised of the LDB’s approval process for a leave of this nature until after it had been approved by the regional manager, despite her months of efforts to gain an appreciation of how a general leave could be approved,” said Bell.
Bell ordered the LDB to approve (within 20 days) a new request for leave as soon as it was filled out by Durikova.
Reference: Liquor Distribution Branch and British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union. Corinn Bell — arbitrator. Peter Gall for the employer. Ken Mooney for the employee. Dec. 22, 2016.
