Bell Staff Sue Over Mass Terminations For Faking Attendance

A gaggle of former Bell staff has taken the corporate to court docket, and the case centres on a combat over what counted as acceptable workplace attendance.

The Toronto Star reports that just about 50 former staff are suing father or mother firm BCE, alleging they have been wrongfully terminated as a part of a broader spherical of value cuts. Bell has mentioned the firings got here right down to staff misrepresenting their attendance, however the lawsuit tells a unique story, arguing the corporate goes after conduct it tolerated for a very long time earlier than instantly treating it as a fireable offence.

At the centre of the case is Toronto employment lawyer Jean-Alexandre De Bousquet, who’s representing the previous workers. He advised the Star the size and sample of the firings don’t appear to be remoted self-discipline circumstances.

“What we are seeing here are massive rounds of economically motivated terminations,” De Bousquet mentioned. “It’s like Bell can’t fire people fast enough.”

Bell rejects that characterization and says the terminations have been strictly about code of conduct breaches. But the assertion of declare alleges one thing extra coordinated was happening behind the scenes. A whistleblower inside the corporate reportedly gave De Bousquet documentation pointing to an inner plan that known as for chopping roughly 30 staff per workplace, with directions to focus on at the very least one individual per group to make an instance of them.

None of this has been confirmed in court docket, and Bell advised the Star it may well’t converse to specifics till it’s formally served with the declare, although it plans to combat the case as soon as that occurs.

The lawsuit additionally factors to timing as proof. These firings have been occurring on the identical time Bell had a hiring freeze in place and was making different cuts elsewhere, together with final week’s announcement of practically 700 job losses tied to its three-year progress plan.

As for what really acquired individuals fired, the Star’s reporting describes staff utilizing workarounds like badging in simply earlier than midnight and once more a couple of minutes later to register attendance throughout two separate days, or “coffee badging,” stopping by briefly for a espresso earlier than working the remainder of the day from dwelling.

According to De Bousquet, none of this occurred in secret. He says staff have been by no means disciplined or warned upfront, and plenty of had tacit or outright approval for these preparations earlier than Bell reclassified them as severe misconduct. Bell counters that its inner investigations have been rigorous and that any supervisor discovered enabling these workarounds was let go as properly.

There’s additionally a course of criticism baked into the lawsuit. Many of the termination letters have been reportedly near similar in wording, and a few allegedly had factual errors or referenced totally different staff completely, particulars the declare says undercut Bell’s argument that every case was reviewed individually.

Most of the 46 plaintiffs are primarily based within the Greater Toronto Area with damages sought starting from roughly $18,000 to $350,000 relying on wage and years of service. Bell now has 20 days to file a proper response.