Six-Figure Award and Reinstatement to Former Job for Employee of Telecommunications Company

Graham Jones of Shields & Hunt represented Barry Lancaster, who was dismissed from his employment by Sprint Canada.

The Situation
Mr. Lancaster had been a 20-year member of the Canadian Armed Forces when he was recruited to join Sprint Canada. He was originally employed as a Project Leader and later became a Network Design Consultant (“NDC”). Approximately one year after his hiring, he was assigned to work full-time on a large contract for Human Resources Development Canada (“HRDC”). He remained on that contract for approximately one and a half years. When the contract was completed, Sprint Canada terminated Mr. Lancaster’s employment, choosing not to return him to his previous position which it had recently filled by hiring another NDC.

Mr. Lancaster felt that the termination of his employment was unfair, as he had done what his employer had asked of him. Sprint Canada rewarded Mr. Lancaster’s loyalty by choosing to keep the new employee and terminating Mr. Lancaster. Mr. Lancaster retained Graham Jones and filed a complaint of unjust dismissal pursuant to the Canada Labour Code (“Code”).

The Hearing
At the arbitration, Sprint Canada’s lawyer argued that Mr. Lancaster was terminated from his position pursuant to Section 243 of the Code, which permits the termination of an employee’s employment if it is as a result of a discontinuance of a function or a lack of work. Sprint Canada’s lawyer argued that when Mr. Lancaster was transferred to the HRDC project, he was placed in a new position of Installer Technician and was no longer an NDC. Consequently, when the HRDC project ended, Sprint Canada no longer required an Installer Technician, and he was terminated because of a “discontinuation of his function”.

Mr. Jones argued that this was not a legitimate discontinuation of his function or a lack of work, but rather a manipulation by Sprint Canada of its workforce to specifically exclude Mr. Lancaster. Mr. Jones argued that Sprint Canada should not be allowed to create a job, transfer Mr. Lancaster into it, and then declare him redundant. In short, he argued that Sprint Canada was attempting to use Section 243 of the Code to disguise the dismissal of Mr. Lancaster, when, in reality, it was a sham.

The Result
The adjudicator accepted Mr. Jones’ argument and awarded Mr. Lancaster his loss of salary and interest from the date of the dismissal to the date of the adjudicator’s award, as well as reinstatement to his previous position of NDC.

Sprint Canada appealed the adjudicator’s decision to the Federal Court of Canada. Sprint Canada’s appeal was dismissed by the Court and it was required to pay costs to Mr. Lancaster for his legal fees.

Mr. Jones is a partner with Shields & Hunt specializing in civil litigation. He can be reached at (613) 230-3232 ext. 307 or gjones@shields-hunt.com.