10 Steps the BC Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services Uses to Dismiss Employees for "Just Cause" Who Provide Solutions to Reduce Errors in Official Statistics
March 7, 2012
1. A new Employee is successful at reducing error, time, and cost in old systems but long-time employees who are adverse to innovation are increasingly antagonistic including yelling, and eventually aggressive yelling, racial slurs and profiling, and removal from responsibility, meetings and the contacts list.
2. The results oriented Employee asks for assistance from management (and to be put back on the contacts list), then both the Public Service Agency and the Union, but the Manager (in this case, a long time employee and shop steward who was given the manager position and who had negotiated on the behalf of the union to save jobs in the face of innovation, and whose errors the new Employee was fixing) refuses to allow the Employee to take courses designed to help create positive work environments (Work place skills , labour Relations - Master Agreement courses) stating they would "only make things worse"; instead, the Employee is required to justify his request for courses and consequently, to describe the discrimination.
3. In response to the Employee's descriptions of discrimination, the Manager accuses the Employee of having a mental / psychological disorder that makes the new Employee unable to control his behaviour (the longtime employee, now manager, labels the results oriented Employee as "passive aggressive") that makes "female co-workers fear for their safety"; therefore, justifying the discrimination against the Employee including removal from all responsibility, given menial tasks with shorter and shorter time limits, exclusion from section meetings, and eventually dismissal.
The specific problematic behaviour is never revealed; however, 4 1/2 years later, after having been subjected to a dismissal for just cause, in a Freedom Of Information package, the Executive Director of BC Stats states that the Population Analyst was not aggressive but rather intense. Therefore, it appears as though the complaint against the Population Analyst is that he can not control his behaviour because he is passive and intense. This is how the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services conducts proceedings regarding differences between Analysts and the same Ministry's management. Bizarre and ridiculous.
4. The Employee makes a formal complaint of discrimination referring to the accusation by the Employer that he (the Employee) has a mental (psychological) disorder that renders the Employee incapable of controlling his behaviour, referred to as "passive aggressive". This accusation is used to justify the discrimination and harassment and the removal of the Employee from Work Place Skills and other related courses.
5. The Employer and the Employee's representative (Union), require the Employee to prove that he/she has a mental / psychological disorder in order to utilize the discrimination procedures.
6. If the Employee states that they cannot prove they have a mental / psychological / behavioural disorder, the Employer and the Union impose the use of "misuse of managerial authority" proceedings.
7. The manager claims that the problem is not mental but rather behavioural, thus the thinking goes, the Employee is not able to control his/her behaviour for reasons other than mental/psychological problems. This is interesting because other reasons for not being able to control ones behaviour could include a genetic disposition that is thought to influence behaviour.
For example, a canine retriever may be predisposed to retrieving, or a lap dog may simply be predisposed to jumping up on laps. Therefore, the accusation that an Employee has a behavioural problem that can not be addressed with mediation can reasonably be considered a form of discrimination on grounds covered by the Human Rights Code, namely ancestry.
The Employer finds that their accusation that the Employee has behavioural problems that makes female co-workers fear for their safety was an acceptable use of managerial authority; therefore, there is "no misuse of managerial authority" and "no resolution" is required, and the matter is considered "closed".
8. The Employee is subjected to increased discrimination, including being removed from all responsibilities, kept off the contact lists, and required to take personal counselling specifically for Employees with substandard work performance (requiring documentation) that management believes may be a result of problems in the Employees home even though the Employee has an excellent work record with no documentation of substandard work. Regarding the belief ... the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services should focus on the work rather than try and find ways to blame others for the dysfunction in the Ministry. Of greater concern is the belief that the use of Telus data as an indicator of population change was "extensively analyzed".
9. If the Employee pursues a complaint of discrimination by filing a grievance with the Deputy Minister, and insists on mediation before meeting with the antagonistic co-worker who is said to have complained to the manager of feeling unsafe, the Employer orders the Employee to gather their belongings, turn in their security pass and leave the building before the grievance is ruled upon.
10. A week or so after the dismissal, the Employer orders the Employee to return to work requiring personal counselling to address what the Employer refers to as the "Employee's behavioural problem". The Executive Director, in contravention of the Labour Code, phones the dismissed Employee at his home and threatens to have the Employee dismissed if the Employee does not submit to a personal assessment and return to work. If the Employee insists on mediation, the Employee is "dismissed for just cause".
While the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services continued to try and avoid disclosing the real methods, the Employee (Population Analyst) raised awareness.
April 25, 2012
Requests by the Employee to have the "just cause" removed, and to receive an apology recognizing the Ministry's role in creating safe work environments, are not supported by the BC Government Employees Union (BCGEU). In fact the Union replys stating that the Employee was phoned by the Executive Director and told that if the Employee did not submit to a personal assessment, the Employee would be dismissed for "just cause".
The Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services, supported by the BC Public Service Agency and the BCGEU refuses to allow arbitration into the real matters in dispute to proceed.
Nonetheless, the Employee, still very concerned that other people are not subjected to the same treatment and concerned about the Ministry not addressing accusations of unsafe work places follows procedures and forwards his grievance to the Labour Relations Board (over seen by you know who - the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services). The LRB does not respond within guidelines; therefore the Employee contacts the Labour critic and is advised to contact the Minister. The Minister replies that the LRB is supposed to be independent.
After over twice the time allotted (8 months) the LRB refuses to allow arbitration to proceed. The next day, the Minister resigns.
The Employee begins a letter writing champagne raising awareness about the real methods used by the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services, BC Stats, to create population numbers used to justify opening and closing of public and private facilities, including schools.
The Employee writes to the Royal Society in London England in response to a call for evidence regarding strengths and weaknesses in population estimating to the regional level pointing the methods used by BC Stats, suggesting a comparison with Statistics Canada, both providing numbers to the regional level in BC.
Within a month, the Premier of BC resigns.
In a small town in BC, a school (the only high school in town) is recommended for closure due to declining enrolment. The Employee asks for historical enrolment numbers thereby showing community members that the enrolment had declined before and was lower before than the forecasted low in the near future. The recommendation to close the school was removed.