OK to Fire Electrical Worker for Falsifying Safety Inspection Report

The final straw that cost an electrical maintenance worker with a history of safety violations was violating his Last Chance agreement was falsely certifying that a Grade Crossing Intersection was safe. Later, he acknowledged omitting something significant from his inspection report, namely, that some of the bonds were broken. When his boss confronted him for not repairing them, the worker basically shrugged his shoulders and blamed it on the lack of tools. The federal arbitrator upheld the employer’s decision to fire him. Not having the right tools is no excuse for falsifying a safety inspection report, especially given the worker’s history, it concluded [Canadian Pacific Railway Company v IBEW (System Council No. 11), 2021 CanLII 7263 (CA LA), February 3, 2021].