The Whistleblower Who Cried Wolf: Arbitrator Upholds Termination Of False Whistleblower

Organizations have legal obligations to protect employees from workplace violence and harassment. Consequently, employers have expended substantial resources to develop and maintain employee whistleblower programs. Canadian employers which have implemented robust whistleblower programs will be pleased to know that there is support from a recent case to terminate an employee who takes advantage of these programs to falsely blow the whistle.

On November 13, 2014, labour arbitrator Mary Ellen Cummings released her decision¹ in Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3261 ("CUPE") and the University of Toronto ("U of T"). The dispute in this case arose over an allegation by a U of T employee, Ihor Tropak, that a co-worker had threatened him with a knife. U of T terminated Tropak on the basis that Tropak fabricated the allegation. In response, CUPE argued that U of T did not have sufficient evidence to conclude that Tropak had fabricated the allegation. CUPE also claimed