CRA cries foul on employee who brought antenna to work to watch 2018 FIFA World Cup game

OTTAWA — Canadians may have caught FIFA World Cup fever, that doesn’t mean that Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employees can jury rig a TV antenna to an office television to make sure they don’t miss out on the action.

Thom Bartleman, a 27-year veteran rulings officer at the CRA, learned that the hard way when he brought an antenna to the workplace and attached it to a boardroom television on July 11, 2018. At the time, England was set to take on (and eventually lose against) Croatia in the World Cup semi-final.

Details about how CRA tried to give Bartleman a red card for his antenna move are in a labour decision released last year.

Bartleman was originally suspended three days for setting up the television and allegedly watching the game at work for roughly half an hour.

But the penalty was eventually dropped after he filed a grievance and convinced CRA that he had only watched the semi-final match for a couple of minutes.

That was a far cry from the claim by a supervisor that he had stood watching the game from 2:00 pm to 2:30 pm and refused to go back to work when ordered, an allegation the employer was never able to prove.

In fact, Bartleman argued that work logs showed he’d been conducting a work interview until 3 p.m.

“During the lunch. I connected an aerial to a television and watched the television for five minutes to see if it was working. I returned at 3 PM and turned the television on. It was intermission,” Bartleman wrote to management when contesting the suspension, according to the decision. And yet, his manager made him “perp walk” out of the building in front of his colleagues, he argued.

Ultimately, arbitrator David Olsen declared the grievance moot because Bartleman had retired years previous and CRA had dropped his suspension after an investigation.

“It seems pretty darn important that the employer learn that they can’t discipline an employee for no reason,” Bartleman told the arbitrator when arguing that CRA should take out a newspaper advertisement to apologize for suspending him based on false pretences from a superior.

But for CRA, it was unacceptable that Bartleman broke the agency’s policy of not attaching personal items to work equipment. It also cried foul at the fact he told colleagues that the game would be playing in a boardroom and that he took a few minutes to watch the game himself.

“The grievor admitted that he brought the antenna into the boardroom and that he attached it to CRA equipment, i.e., the television, without prior authorization. He admitted that it was for the purpose of watching the game. He admitted that it was not for any CRA purpose. He acknowledged advising his colleagues that the game was available to be watched in the boardroom,” the employer argued according to the decision.

In a statement, CRA spokesperson Sylvie Branch told National Post that agency employees still can’t watch World Cup games during working hours. Furthermore, she noted taxpayers expect that public service is delivered without disruptions, even during Canada’s historic World Cup run.

“We know major moments like the World Cup can bring Canadians together, and it’s something many employees enjoy following. However, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does not have a policy that allows employees to watch sporting events while working,” Branch wrote.

“Employees who wish to take time to watch events during working hours would need to use leave options available to them, where operationally feasible and approved by management.”

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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