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ARTICLE · 04 JUNE 2021

Labour Arbitrator Upholds Employee Termination After Surreptitious Interference With Employer's Virtual File Storage

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Throughout both the employer's investigation and the grievance arbitration, the grievor denied all culpability.

CanadaEmployment and HR
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In a recent labour arbitration decision, TELUS v United Steelworkers, Telecommunications Workers Union National Local 1944 (Heywood), Arbitrator Jolliffe, Q.C., upheld the termination of a long-service, unionized employee for cause owing to her interference with the employer's (TELUS) virtual file/cloud based storage system (a Google Drive). Specifically, the allegation against the grievor was that she intentionally and maliciously interfered with TELUS' drive by surreptitiously removing manager access to over a thousand live documents stored on the same.

Throughout both the employer's investigation and the grievance arbitration, the grievor denied all culpability. Instead, she alleged that her actions on the drive were mistaken and/or undertaken in a haphazard effort to assist the employer. No one was present to observe the grievor's actions on the drive. Aside from the grievor herself, no one was able to provide evidence of the grievor's intentions at the

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