Racial slurs aren't 'shop talk,' Canada arbitrator declares in upholding termination

Rejecting the suggestion that racial slurs can be excused as mere "shop talk," a Canadian arbitrator recently upheld the termination of a unionized employee with 23 years of service and a clean disciplinary record.

What happened

A verbal altercation broke out on a clothing distribution center floor between two unionized coworkers. A white employee aggressively directed racial slurs toward the black coworker for approximately 10 minutes. Several racially and ethnically diverse employees witnessed the incident.

After an investigation, the company found the employee's conduct violated its policies. In particular, the workplace violence and harassment policy prohibited all forms of racial or ethnic harassment, including slurs, "jokes," and inappropriate comments about a person's racial or ethnic background.

When challenging the termination at arbitration, the union relied on the collective bargaining agreement's (CBA) requirement to find just cause before dismissing an employee. Although the union denied the alleged racist conduct even took place, it argued the behavior would have amounted to "shop talk" rather than egregious workplace harassment justifying termination.

Arbitrator's decision