Dismissal for time theft upheld

An engineer contested his dismissal for having used the Internet and telephone for personal purposes over a long period of time and for having falsified his time sheets in order to benefit from certain leaves. The employee admitted the facts and presented the lack of work as a mitigating factor. The arbitrator began by stressing that the doctrine regarding time theft and fraud had evolved and that dismissal was no longer automatic. He pointed out, however, that faults of this type are serious and require careful analysis of mitigating factors. The existence of several mitigating factors thus allows an arbitrator to reduce the sanction imposed. In the case at hand, given the seriousness of the faults and the duration of this behaviour, the arbitrator found that the relationship of trust had been severed, even though the employee had 12 years of seniority and a clean disciplinary record. The decision to dismiss the employee was therefore upheld.

Centre des services partagés du Québec and Association professionnelle des ingénieurs du Gouvernement du Québec

2020EXPT-890, 2019 QCTA 729, Pierre Fortin