Liberty and Potts and Treasury Board

Full Text

161-2-801
Liberty and Potts and Treasury Board

Before: R. Simpson
Appearances: B. Done, for the Complainant; J. Begley, for the Respondent
Decision rendered: November 4, 1997

Unfair labour practice – Complaint under paragraph 23(1)(a) of the Public Service Staff Relations Act alleging a violation of section 8 of the Act – Credibility – complainant alleged that respondent, who was Acting Area Manager at all relevant times, had threatened the job security of certain employees if they pursued the grievances which they had filed – another witness testified in support of the complainant's version of events – however, respondent and another witness denied that such a threat had been made – evidence established that the workplace was in turmoil as a result of the decision in 1995 to transfer the Child Tax Benefit program from Human Resources Development Canada to Revenue Canada – in an attempt to preserve the job security of the employees affected by this decision, respondent arranged for various acting assignments and deployments – employees filed a number of grievances in response to these actions – respondent held a staff meeting in an attempt to respond to some of their concerns – it was at this meeting that she allegedly threatened to revoke the deployments and acting assignments if employees persisted in their grievances arising out of these actions – Board pointed out that the burden of proof was on the complainant and that, on the balance of probabilities, it was not satisfied that the complainant had discharged the burden of proving that the threat had been made by the respondent.

Complaint dismissed.