With this one simple mistake, an employer can lose even the
most airtight case
It's a familiar theme of police television dramas: everyone
knows the bad guy committed the crime, but the police don't do
everything by the book and the villain gets away on a
"technicality." The police force winds up looking
foolish, the prosecutor chews out the detectives involved, and our
heroes have to find another way to bag their criminal.
In much the same way, an employer will lose an arbitration if it
is found that it breached the employee's right to shop steward
representation.
Under most collective agreements, the employer must permit a
shop steward to participate and offer advice as an advocate for the
employee during investigatory or disciplinary meetings. If the
employee has the right to union representation under the collective
agreement, and meetings are held with the employee without union
representation (absent informed consent by the employee), any
discipline of the
