City of Armstrong forced to rehire employee it let go while on probation

The City of Armstrong has been ordered to re-hire an employee it let go within the first three months after a labour arbitrator found it did not have just cause to terminate her.

According to an Aug. 4 BC Labour Arbitration Awards decision, the City still had to have “just and reasonable” cause to let the employee go, regardless of whether it happened within the first 90 days.

The City argued that it didn’t have to meet the usual burden of just cause to terminate a newly hired employee, and if it did “the concept of probation would be robbed of any meaning.”

However, the labour arbitrator disagreed, saying the city hadn’t given the employee reasonable cause to discipline them “let alone terminate” them.

The case involves Kelsey Major, who was hired by the City of Armstrong in March 2025 in the public works department.

The city wanted someone with a Class 3 driver’s licence, which Major didn’t have, but she did have an air brakes endorsement and said she’d get the licence.

However, after three months she didn’t have the licence and the City terminated her.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 2709, went to bat for her and a two-day hearing commenced.

In BC, it’s largely believed that an employee can be terminated within the first 90 days without any reason being given.

However, the union argued that regardless of the 90-day probationary period, the city still needed just cause to let her go.

The union argued that Major was never told she had to get her Class 3 licence within 90 days, only that she had to get it in the future and she was working on it.

In the decision, chief administrative officer Trevor Seibel said a large factor in his decision-making process for getting rid of Major was her failure to get a Class 3 Licence. Seibel also said he had concerns about her honesty when she’d called in sick.

Manager of city operations Brad Ackerman testified he had concerns about her performance and cell phone use at work and noted she’d requested to leave work early on several occasions.

However, both managers admitted none of these concerns had ever been put to Major.

Seibel also admitted she wasn’t told in her interview that her job was dependent on getting her Class 3 licence within 90 days, only that she had to get it in the future.

In the decision, Major said she was never provided any negative feedback from any supervisor in the three months she worked there. 

The city argued, along with not getting the licence, she had the opportunity to demonstrate her employability and suitability for the position and failed to do so.

The Arbitrator didn’t buy it.

“While there is no question that the Class 3 Licence was listed as a requirement for the position, the (City of Armstrong) failed to provide (Major) with clear expectations around the timeline of obtaining the licence,” the arbitrator ruled.

The arbitrator said that while it would have been preferable for Major to ask about a timeline, if it was a condition for employment as the city said it was, then it should have made that clear.

Ultimately, the arbitrator ordered the city to rehire Major.