As part of the mediation hearing for May 2002, the lawyer for the Union requested that the specialist looking after me for Arthritis write a letter stating my situation.
Before and after this period of time I had been putting my requests for time off in writing as Mr. Forsyth had ordered. I have copied a few of these requests below:
The requests of January 12, 2002
These requests went on for a long period of time, and in fact, cost me tens of thousands of dollars. Yet I was so messed up, mentally and physically, that it was necessary.
The proof that District Manager Forsyth saw these letters is contained in his final reply to his Notice of Intended Discipline" of June 2002, which answer is dated June 27, 2002:
"Furthermore, in reviewing your web site, some of the wine events you appear to have attended correspond with dates that you requested off due to your health. Thus, it appears that although you advised the LCBO that you would be off for health reasons, you were not in fact taking these days off for health reasons but to attend such events When requesting time off from work, you are required to advise either your manager or myself of the true reasons for your request. You should not request time off alleging health reasons when that is not the basis for your request. Misleading the LCBO about the real reason for your absence is not acceptable and may result in discipline. I trust that this will not occur again."
It would seem that Mr. Forsyth had not only seen my requests, but didn't believe my stated reasons. In the last sentence above it would seem that he has convicted me ("I trust that this will not occur again" most definitely says that it has happened in the past!!!) of some illicit activity - supposedly the prior sentence "Misleading the LCBO about the real reason for your absence... ". As I posted a very wide range of events on my website, many of them on other continents, I would suggest that he should be more specific. And to make such an accusation in Canada, it would seem to be necessary to have some proof. As a point of fact, I was always exceptionally careful to schedule things via my store Manager in such a way that any events I attended were on official days off, or on days taken as vacation. I was most certainly taking all these days off because BEING AT THE STORE WAS CAUSING ME EXCEPTIONAL PAIN AND SUFFERING (did it finally get through this time???). Anywhere else, including the normal at-home-resting, was better. This to me is just another example of the corporate climate at LCBO. Mr. Forsyth must be considered an exceptional employee, one of their best, as he rose from the ranks very far and very quickly. Thus it would seem that LCBO considers this is the way to deal with employees. I make no charge, but feel that this is fair comment as described in Pgh 8 of the final grievance settlement, which grievance in fact did not deal with issues of ignoring doctors orders.
It is interesting to look at the article written in the last copy of the Employee Union Newsletter that I received (July 2004) which had a telling article on pg 3. In this article it seems the Union filed a Freedom of Information request to find out how many employees were on a modified work plan (they say 7.2% of 6,747, which would be about 485 people).
Further, I find it ludicrous that I would be charged with a conflict of interest (or as above, seemingly convicted of it!). Please take a look at these pages to see a more serious view of conflict of interest. It is my view that LCBO employees commonly accept gifts under the policy copied to this page, and perform other actions that most members of the general public would consider unethical at best.
According to the article:
82% feel their modified work plan is not working for them
You can be the judge of things, whether the Board acted properly, either in dealing with me, or in their policies, or in who should be investigated for conflict of interest, or ethics considerations. I reserve all legal rights to pursue action based on their refusal to move me in accordance with my doctors orders. They did offer me a transfer, but only if I would drop the grievance...
Larry Paterson, August 5, 2007.
67% feel the LCBO does not adhere to Doctor's recommendations
63% feel the Store Manager does not adhere to Doctor's recommendations
55% feel that fellow staff members do not adhere to modified restrictions
67% of modified workers are asked to exceed their current limitations
41% of modified workers feel they are not valuable members of their store
45% of modified workers feel they are not given the opportunity to advance.