Station Mont-Tremblant and Syndicat des travailleurs(euses) de la Station de Mont-Tremblant (CSN), (T.A., Claude Fabien), December 19, 2011 decision.
The complainant, a housekeeping worker, filed two grievances challenging the decision of his employer to suspend him for five days and to subsequently dismiss him. The two disciplinary measures were in response to the complainant’s harassment of one of his fellow workers, a room attendant. Among other things, the complainant had developed a chronic pattern of sitting at his colleague’s table during coffee and meal breaks, staring at her without uttering a word. He also followed her home in his car at the end of the work shift, then repeated the precise pattern in reverse the following morning. Furthermore, he insisted on obtaining job duties which positioned him closer to her and neglected his own tasks in order to devote as much time as possible to cleaning the floor where his colleague carried out her work duties.
The arbitrator ruled that the conduct of the plaintiff effectively constituted psychological harassment. Due to the refusal of the complainant to alter his conduct notwithstanding repeated requests by both his colleague and the employer, the disciplinary measures imposed by the employer were justified. Furthermore, the arbitrator considered that neither the prior romantic relationship between the complainant and the victim, nor his good faith, lack of malice nor the mundane nature of his acts could be deemed proper excuses for his conduct. The employer had the duty to take reasonable measures to put an end to the offensive conduct of the complainant. The chronic nature of his offences and his refusal to comply with earlier interventions by the employer confirm that suspension was appropriate and that dismissal was the inevitable outcome. Finally, “the employer would have been remiss to wait until a more serious incident occurred”. Both grievances were dismissed.
