The grievor wrote an email to government ministers as well as to the media denouncing wrongdoing by managers in the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) – the employer reacted by suspending him for 20 days without pay for disseminating unsubstantiated allegations to the media instead of following the internal procedure for disclosing wrongdoing – the grievor argued that he acted within his rights as a bargaining agent representative – the employer argued that the grievor acted as a whistleblower and that he should have followed the CBSA’s procedures – the adjudicator found that the grievor did not act within his role as a bargaining agent representative – rather, he continued a long-standing campaign against some CBSA managers, without reasonable cause – the adjudicator found that there had been misconduct but substituted a 10-day suspension because, in the meantime, other penalties in the grievor’s file had been reduced or removed.

Grievance allowed in part.