Award Number 14-001
- and -
City of Ottawa Police Services Board
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Award Date: | 2013-12-28 |
Arbitrator: |
Starkman, D
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Municipality: |
Ottawa
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Region: |
East
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Classifications: | Duty of Fair Representation, Procedural Issues |
Grievor: | Sgt. D. Spicer |
Appearances: |
B. Cole and others, for the Association
R. Houston and others, for the Employer |
Length of Award: | 4 pp |
Collective Agreements Cit. | |
Statutory Cit. |
Summary
Duty of Fair Representation Complainant alleging association breached its duty of fair representation in the manner it dealt with his complaints of mistreatment by service - Complainant requesting production of documents from association and from service - Issue whether association breached its duty of fair representation, not merits of complainant’s grievance - Association and police service to disclose to complainant any information arguably relevant to issue in dispute - Preliminary award.
Procedural Issues Production of documents - Duty of fair representation complaint - Issue in dispute whether association breached its duty of fair representation, not merits of complainant’s grievance - Relevant documents included those which shed light on what association knew and what association did with respect to complaints - Association and police service to disclose any arguably relevant information in their possession - Preliminary award.
Facts
Sergeant Spicer alleged that the association breached its duty of fair representation in the manner in which it handled his complaints of mistreatment. In February 2009 Sgt. Spicer was assigned to the Integrated Criminal Intelligence Unit under the supervision of S/Sgt. Ladouceur. In November 2011 Sgt. Spicer complained to management about S/Sgt. Ladouceur’s behaviour. Several meetings followed. Sergeant Spicer was apparently advised that in order to resolve the conflict he would be removed from the unit until S/Sgt. Ladouceur retired in April or May 2012. Sergeant Spicer went on medical leave, returning to work at the end of May and to the intelligence unit at the end of June. In February 2012 he told the association of his concerns about being removed from the intelligence unit. Discussions between the association and the service yielded several offers of settlement, which Sgt. Spicer declined to accept. The association decided not to pursue his grievance to arbitration. This preliminary award concerned Sgt. Spicer’s request for production of documents from both the association and the police service.
Award #
The issue in dispute was whether the association breached its duty of fair representation, not the merits of Sgt. Spicer’s grievance. Many of the documents requested dealt with interactions between the complainant and S/Sgt. Ladouceur. Such documents were not relevant to the issue in dispute. Documents that were relevant were those pertaining to what the association knew and what the association did after Sgt. Spicer brought his complaints to their attention. Accordingly the association and the service were ordered to disclose any information in their possession which was arguably relevant to the issue in dispute.
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