What is Progressive Discipline?

From the URA-AFT contract (www.ura-aft.org/contract)
ARTICLE 18 - JUST CAUSE/DISCIPLINE
No employee shall be discharged, suspended, disciplined or receive a deficiency downgrade except for just cause. The parties to this Agreement affirm the concept of progressive discipline. (see http://www.uraaft.org/contract/18Just.shtml)

A member of URA-AFT is given a written reprimand on February 28, 2008 for job performance issues. On April 7, 2008 this same employee is suspended for five days. On April 17, 2008 the employee is terminated.

Is this a violation of the contract?

If an employee receives a verbal warning, written warning, suspension and termination it is common for the employer to argue that they followed progressive discipline. However, the concept of progressive discipline requires that each of these steps be used as a form of correcting the behavior of an employee with a reasonable amount of time between each discipline to allow the employee to correct the behavior.

Although an employee may receive progressive discipline, it is a violation of our contract for an employer to just go through the motions of progressive discipline with a goal of terminating an employee. This is called “building a record”.
The issuance of too many warnings in too short a time has been interpreted as evidence that the employer was out to build a case against the grievant.

Arbitrator Sabghir wrote in his decision in Victory Markets in 1985: “Progressive discipline is not simply an escalator to crucify an employee. Through it an employer must demonstrate an honest and serious effort to salvage rather than savage an employee. To hold otherwise distorts, demeans and defeats the goals underlying the concept of progressive and corrective discipline.”