explain your understanding in your own words and reflect on the decision taken. If possible, provide alternative decisions.

CASE IN POINT Cumulative Incidents of Bullying Considered Hart v Parrish & Heimbecker, Limited, 2017 MBQB 68 Hart had been employed for 15 years with the employer, a grain handling merchant, when he was fired for cause based on four complaints of workplace bullying and harassment that spanned several years. These complaints included al- legations that Hart yelled at and belittled certain co-workers in front of others and tried to undermine their work. One of the complainants described Hart's behaviour towards him as follows: employer's failure to warn him after each of the first three complaints that his job was in jeopardy if he did not correct his behaviour was fatal to the employer's case. In effect, Hart argued, the employer had condoned his behaviour. Relevant Issue Whether the employer had just cause to dismiss Hart for breach of its workplace conduct policies. ... Harassing me on the holidays I was finally able to take, creating a crisis five minutes before I was set to leave on these holidays, general ag- gressive and nit picking attitude on every aspect of what I am managing for P&H, even though he knows the answer, treating me differently than the other merchandisers, and copying my boss on issues that should and could have easily been solved between him and I, or that were not issues at all. Decision The court found that the employer had just cause for dismiss- al. The complaints about bullying were serious and credible. Applying the principles of proportionality and context, the court stated: After each complaint, the employer sat down with Hart to discuss the problem behaviour and urge him to make chan- ges. Twice, Hart was sent to get professional career counsel- ling. After the fourth complaint, the employer decided it had just cause to dismiss Hart for violating its workplace conduct policies. However, it still offered him a severance package, on a without prejudice basis, in the hopes of avoiding litigation. Hart found the offer unacceptable and sued for gful dismissal (reasonable notice) damages. He argued that the If this was one complaint of inappropriate conduct, the sanction of dismissal would not be reasonable. In this case, there were four complaints of inappropriate conduct and reasonable steps were taken to discipline and correct the conduct after each of the first three complaints ... In my view, it is not necessary to specifically warn an employee that he/she will be dismissed if certain objectionable behaviour occurs again, where a reasonable person would know or ought to know that the conduct is in- appropriate, contrary to the defendant's policies and may result in termination. Scanned with CamScanner