OPSEU 5114 and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)

In this award Arbitrator Gedalof addressed an issue involving vacation requests of part-time employees.

The Employer argued that under the collective agreement, vacation for part-time employees must be scheduled in blocks of one or more “calendar weeks”. The Union argued that part-time employees had the “option” of requesting some or all of their vacation time in calendar weeks, but they are not required to do so.

Arbitrator Gedalof found that under the collective agreement, the Employer cannot refuse to even consider an employee’s request on the grounds that it is for a duration of less than a week.

In the result, Arbitrator Gedalof found that the Employer breached the collective agreement in failing to consider part-time employees’ vacation requests of less than 1 week.

PDF: OPSEU 5114 v The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)