Genevieve Rioux came to Ontario from Quebec twelve years ago as a widowed mother of two children.

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Question:

Genevieve Rioux came to Ontario from Quebec twelve years ago as a widowed mother of two children. She didn't have much formal education but she was willing to work to support her family and secured a job as a cook's assistant at the Novotel Hotel downtown.

She had been in that position for 6 years at the time of the incident which occurred on March 10th, 2020. On that day she was seen by her supervisor, Carol Logan, removing some food product from the kitchen freezer, putting it inside her jacket and then attempting to leave the premises as her shift had ended. Carol confronted Genevieve at the time, at which point Genevieve denied that she had taken anything from the kitchen. Carol indicated to Genevieve that she was suspended without pay at that point subject to further discipline based on an investigation.

The investigation showed that Ms. Rioux had at least three other disciplinary letters on her file for various offences in the past two years, the most recent for insubordination.

Two days later, the investigation complete, the hotel advised Genevieve in writing that her services were terminated for just cause because of theft of company product which directly contravenes a clause in the current collective agreement. Genevieve contacted her union and the union filed a grievance disputing the termination for cause. The case went to arbitration and was heard by a single arbitrator in August 2020.

Question 1 - The Company's position is to have the Arbitrator uphold the termination. What did the company argue to support their case? (5 marks)

Question 2 - The Union's position is to have the termination squashed and Genevieve reinstated. What did the union argue to support their contention that Genevieve not be dismissed? (5 marks)

Question 3 - What did the single arbitrator decide and what criteria was used to make the decision? (10 marks)