Federal employee wins snow day pay ruling

A Charlottetown federal employee has won his case against his employer about getting paid for a snow day.

Les Smith filed a grievance against the Canada Revenue Agency after it refused to provide paid leave for the hours he wasn't at work on a snow day, Dec. 4, 2013.

Smith works at the Charlottetown Tax Services Office which remained open that morning, but closed later that day. 

The decision, which is available online, comes from a panel of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board. 

Smith's grievance was based on a clause in the union agreement which said, "the employer may grant: leave with pay when circumstances not directly attributable to the employee prevent his or her reporting for duty; such leave shall not be unreasonably withheld."

Office closed at 1 p.m.

According to the ruling Smith was living in Summerside and left home around 7:04 a.m. and spent about 20-25 minutes on unplowed roads that morning. "He decided to return home after he saw a 4-wheel drive truck in a ditch," said the ruling. 

The ruling states that Smith had been in touch with his team leader at work, and tried again to get on the road around 11:30 a.m., after clearing his driveway. 

"He decided the road conditions remained unsafe," said the ruling. 

The Tax Services Office closed at 1 p.m. due to inclement weather. 

Smith's employer agreed to four hours of paid leave because of the early closure, and one hour for Smith's efforts to get to work, but refused to pay Smith the remaining 3.5 hours as paid leave, under the clause he cited.

In the meantime, Smith applied to use sick leave for those hours, and that was granted.

Denial of leave 'unreasonable' says adjudicator

Smith's grievance was denied several times before reaching the labour relations and employment board. 

It took almost five years to get his 3.5 hours of leave time back. 

"I was pleasantly surprised," said Smith. "It's gone so long that you forget about it." He calls the nearly five year wait "ridiculous." 

In the decision, adjudicator Nathalie Daigle said "based on evidence on record, I find that road conditions were poor and unsafe." 

Daigle said that Smith "made reasonable efforts to get to work and that the snowstorm prevented him from travelling to his workplace."  

Daigle said the employer's decision to deny him leave for part of the day, "was unreasonable in the circumstances."

The employer has been ordered to credit Smith's sick leave balance by 3.5 hours and grant leave for those hours under the clause of the collective agreement. 

Smith, who is also active with the union and is the chair of the area council for the Public Service Alliance of P.E.I., hopes the decision will help others. 

"It's not worth it to get in an accident or to get hurt … I would hope that people would take their health and safety as priority one," said Smith. 

In a statement the CRA wrote, "The health, safety and well-being of our employees are and will continue to be important at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The CRA has taken note of the decision by the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board. The CRA will continue to assess each case on its own merits when responding to leave requests resulting from inclement weather."

The decision also notes that the decision is final and "cannot constitute a precedent or be referred for judicial review to the Federal Court of Appeal."

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