CUPEU settles two major grievances
August 29, 2007
Yesterday afternoon, the University finally came to its senses and settled two important grievances. The case concerns a long-time temporary employee who went on maternity leave, returning a year later only to be told that she no longer had a job, her position had been given to someone else in her absence.The University settled the two grievances by paying $36,000 for lost wages as well as returning the employee to her original position, converting both her and her position to permanent status (through article 41), and returning to her all benefits and rights lost due to the University’s error including maternity leave benefits. This settlement proves that CUPEU was correct in its interpretation of the situation all the way back to January 2006 when the situation first came to our attention. Despite many conversations with the University over the last year and a half, we were never able to convince them of the error in their ways. A settlement was offered only after the case already was in front of an arbitrator. This settlement highlights the University’s apparent inability to resolve even the most obvious errors without being threatened with a hearing in front of an arbitrator. Sad, extremely time consuming and expensive – but true.