Air Canada faces lawsuit as union challenges cleaner’s dismissal
VANCOUVER A union that represents Air Canada employees is suing the airline for firing an employee and accusing her of stealing nuts and lotion from an aircraft and of bribing a human resources official.
In February, Neena Cheema was cleaning the seats in an aircraft when she found two packages of nuts on a seat and two more packs of nuts and some lotion on the floor, according to evidence she gave at an arbitration hearing.
Cheema, a 17-year employee of the airline, put them in her pocket. She said she intended to place them on the galley counter after she’d finished her other duties but because of the rapid pace and heavy workload of the day, forgot to do so.
When she later went to the airline’s human resources office to check on her vacation dates, she said she pulled out her cellphone to check the time. She said she realized she still had the nuts and lotion in her pocket and left the items with the HR co-ordinator before rushing back to work.
Soon afterward, she was summoned to a meeting with her manager and then fired. Her union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, grieved the termination and the case went to an arbitrator.
In April, arbitrator David McPhillips upheld the dismissal.
The union’s Local 140, which has offices in Richmond, responded by filing a petition in B.C. Supreme Court, seeking an order quashing the arbitrator’s decision and reinstating Cheema with retroactive wages to the date of termination.
In the petition, the union says that at the arbitration hearing, the airline relied heavily on a termination letter written by Greg Daniels, Cheema’s manager, to attack her credibility and establish she had stolen the nuts and lotion.
The letter alleged that Cheema had admitted that she regularly took things off aircraft but the union says no evidence was given to corroborate that allegation.
As for the allegation of bribery, the HR co-ordinator claimed that Cheema had said the words, “I appreciate any help that you can do,” after putting the nuts on her desk.
But the union says that the only other witness present when the statement was allegedly made, a union shop steward, did not corroborate that evidence at the hearing.
The union claims that the arbitrator was unfair in accepting uncorroborated evidence of Cheema making self-incriminating admissions.
And it says the arbitrator erred in a number of other ways, including finding Cheema had the intent to deprive Air Canada of the discarded nuts and lotion, in light of the nominal value of the items and the fact that she handed them in a few hours later.
“The arbitrator’s finding that Ms. Cheema had committed attempted bribery is unreasonable in consideration of the fact that the nuts and lotion were of little to no value, and would not influence any reasonable person’s conduct, let alone the HR manager of the respondent,” says the union’s petition.
“Further, the evidence does not support the finding that Ms. Cheema made an offer or promise which would amount to bribery.”
Air Canada spokeswoman Angela Mah said the airline had nothing to add to the arbitrator’s decision upholding termination.
The evidence does not support the finding that (Air Canada employee) Cheema made an offer or promise which would amount to bribery.