Two Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro workers grieve when overtime premium pay denied

Agreement article does not cancel effect of another article

When Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro wanted to complete work reclaiming spent oil from an electrical transformer, the special project required a new 24-hour schedule.
“Due to operational requirements, the company requires a 24-hour shift schedule starting 8 a.m., Thursday, March 17, 2016. The 24-hour schedule is anticipated to last approximately six to seven work days pending any unforeseen circumstances (including Saturday and Sunday),” said supervisor Reg Day in a letter to electrical maintenance employees Mark Canning and Wayne Downing, advising them of the change.
After completing the assignment, Canning and Downing claimed overtime for the extra work, as per the collective agreement. “Except as provided for in article 19 and clause 15.02 (b), the corporation shall be required to pay premium time for all time worked outside the defined normal workday and work week,” according to article 15 — hours of work.
However, the company denied the overtime payment and said it relied upon article 15.08, which read: “Non-shift employees will be given five days written notice when required by the corporation to work a shift schedule (based on a requirement for a 24-hour work schedule). If written notice is not given, the corporation shall pay the employees involved the applicable overtime rates for all hours worked the first two shifts of the schedule.”
The letter from Day detailed the proposed schedule that called for the two non-shift employees to work midnight to 8 a.m. shifts from March 18 to March 23. 
In the past, testified Canning, he was paid overtime premium rates for all work outside his regular daily hours of work, which were 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. He claimed for 10 hours per day (the regular eight hours, plus two more for travel time) for six days.
The employer rejected the claim and said Canning should have claimed eight hours’ regular pay and two hours of overtime for those six days.
Brian Tobin worked as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 1615 representative and helped the workers file a grievance on April 5, 2016. He testified that he had also been regularly paid overtime for all work outside his regular hours. 
About five years previously, he said, Tobin worked on a reclamation of transformer oil, and he was paid four hours of overtime for each day he worked 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tobin’s regular hours were also 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Arbitrator James Oakley upheld the grievance and ordered the employer to “pay the grievors premium rates under article 15.02 (a) for hours worked outside the normal workday in March 2016.”
“When the employer gives five days’ notice to work a shift schedule under article 15.08, the notice does not operate as an exception to article 15.02 (a) and premium rates continue to be payable,” said Oakley.
The company erred in denying the overtime payments because “article 15.08 does not expressly state any effect on the payment of premium rates under article 15.02 (a). The parties may have had different interpretations of article 15.08 at the time it was negotiated in 2010, however, the ordinary meaning of the language and the surrounding circumstances supports the union’s interpretation,” said Oakley.
Reference: Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1615. James Oakley — arbitrator. Darren Stratton for the employer. Stuart Morris for the employee. Aug. 9, 2018. 2018 CarswellNfld 449

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