Payment issues

BCGEU and Emcon Services (June 27, 2010) - #1007

The member was issued a fine for operating a commercial vehicle with a load exceeding the legal weight requirements. The Union grieved the Employer’s failure to reimburse the member for the cost of the fine.  The grievance succeeded. The arbitrator found there was nothing in the collective agreement that allowed the Employer to impose a monetary fine on an employee and it was not an appropriate action within the proper scope of the Employer’s disciplinary powers.  There was evidence the Employer had paid for tickets in the past and the Employer did not provide a scale for workers at the loading site.

HEABC and BCGEU – BCLRB No. B44/2010 (March 10, 2010)

The Board dismissed the Employer’s section 99 application for review of the arbitrator’s award dated September 22, 2009. The arbitrator had determined that the Employer was responsible for the mileage costs incurred by health care workers who were using their vehicles on behalf of and at the request of the Employer. This award resulted in a significant financial remedy for many of our health care members.

Absolute Traffic Enforcement of Arbitration Award (723A and 724A) 

The union attended arbitration in 2000 and obtained an order for the payment of lost wages to several members of Absolute Traffic. The employer did not attend the hearing and refused to pay any money to the members. The company was dissolved shortly after the award was issued. The union made many unsuccessful attempts to collect on the award for several years but all leads evaporated.

In 2007 the union received a tip about the location of a former director of the company.

The Employment Standards Act at Section 3(8) allows an arbitration board to refer an unpaid wage matter to the Director of Employment Standards. The union asked the arbitrator to make the referral. Although the company was long dissolved the legislation holds directors personally liable for a maximum of two months wages. A writ of seizure was eventually issued against the former director. Nine years later, two former members of Absolute Traffic each received two months wages.

BCGEU and BC Mental Health, February 5, 2009 - Expedited
The worker grieved the employer's decision based on an administrative error to keep him in a lower pay grid. The arbitrator accepted the union argument that the employer improperly reversed the Grievor's Grid 17 wage adjustment and he was entitled to a Grid 18 wage adjustment effective April, 2003.