Here are some things that caught my attention this week…

Justice Elson strikes a claim against one of three defendants in a wrongful dismissal action finding no basis for standalone claims for “bad faith conduct” and “negligent investigation”: Hollinger v SaskTel Centre, 2024 SKKB 178 (CanLII)

Vice-Chair Schick granted an employer’s application to dismiss an OHS appeal on the grounds it was filed out of time. The appellant, apparently, thought the deadline to file the appeal fell on a long weekend and could therefore file and serve on the next day the ALRB office was open, but the deadline actually fell on the Friday immediately before the start of the weekend thus highlighting the importance of correctly calculating your appeal periods: Thorkelson v Shell Canada Limited, 2024 ABOHSAB 17 (CanLII)

Justice Poleman quashes the decision in an interest arbitration because the arbitrator relied on comparators outside of the employer’s competitive climate and cast doubt on the employer’s wage data based on facts not supported in evidence. Citing Vavilov, the decision was found to be unreasonable for lacking transparency on material points: Sobeys Capital Incorporated v United Food and Commercial Workers, Local No 401, 2024 ABKB 614 (CanLII)

A long-term employee was terminated after an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct found that he sexually harassed a subordinate employee. An adjudicator found that he had been unjustly dismissed finding that the relationship between the two was personal and consensual and substituted a four month suspension in place of the termination. The Federal Court upheld the adjudicator’s decision on judicial review. The Federal Court of Appeal, however, allowed the appeal for a number of reasons including the fact that whether or not sexual conduct and words are welcome or tolerated can vary over time and with their content despite a personal and consensual relationship: Canadian Pacific Railway Company v. Sauvé, 2024 FCA 171 (CanLII)

In two separate applications for revocation filed by employers, the Alberta Labour Relations Board considered the meaning of “other relevant matter” in s. 54(1) of the Code. In both cases, the employer applied to revoke the bargaining rights of the union because the bargaining unit in question had no members for more than three years. The Board dismissed the argument in one case that an “other relevant matter” that would warrant dismissal of the revocation application is the possibility that the employer might in the future start employing scaffolders that would be members of the bargaining instead of contracting out for those workers. In another, the union argued that speculation the employer had been in discussions with another union about representing its employees on an “all employee” basis is an “other relevant matter” that would warrant dismissal of the application. The Board disagreed. In both cases, the Board found that if the statutory prerequisites were met, revocation was presumed to result subject to some residual discretion maintained by the Board. However, the Board would not exercise that discretion based on the kind of speculation alleged by the unions on these facts: United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local Union No. 1325 v Clearstream Energy Services LP, 2024 ALRB 89 (CanLII) and International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union No. 955 v PCL Industrial Constructors Inc., 2024 ALRB 103 (CanLII)

The ALRB denied the employer’s request to depart from the usual 30/30 rule and allow 8 employees to vote who were hired after the date the application for certification was filed: General Teamsters, Local Union No. 362 v Bluewater Group Limited, 2024 ALRB 106 (CanLII)

The ALRB ordered the union file a grievance and that the matter proceed immediately to Step III in the grievance procedure as a remedy for a breach of the union’s duty of fair representation (in one of the very rare cases where the Board actually found a union breached that duty): Waitson v International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 424, 2024 ALRB 111 (CanLII)