An employer has the power to discipline employees if their
behaviour is at odds with the employer's policies and rules
governing conduct in the workplace.
But do employers have the same disciplinary power regarding
reprehensible behaviour that occurs outside the workplace? An
arbitrator recently had to decide this question in the matter of
Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses Canam Structal
(CSN) and Groupe Canam pour son établissement
Structal1.
The facts
Two employees were involved in a violent altercation near the
workplace, the cause of which did not at first blush appear to be
work-related. The complainant, angry with a colleague over an
unpaid debt, had blocked the passage of his colleague's car on
a public street and then proceeded to damage it with an iron bar.
The situation degenerated into a violent physical altercation on
the street and in the parking lot of the workplace. The arbitrator
had to decide if the complainant's conduct justified
