CUB 77157

TRANSLATION

IN THE MATTER of the EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT

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IN THE MATTER of a claim for benefits by
G.T.

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IN THE MATTER of an appeal to an Umpire
by the Commission from the decision of a Board of Referees
given on May 13, 2010, at Val d’Or, Quebec.

DECISION

The Commission appeals from the Board of Referees’ decision, which allowed the claimant’s appeal from the Commission’s decision to disentitle him from receiving benefits because he allegedly voluntarily left his employment.

The claimant had worked for Déboisement M. A.B. Inc. for over 18 years. In the spring of 2009, after his employer told him that he was going to lose his job, the claimant found another job at Sodexo Québec Ltée, a mining company, as a caretaker.

It was acknowledged that, in January 2010, it was expected that the mine would close in June 2010. The mine was indeed closed in June 2010. Anticipating the mine’s closing, the claimant looked for another job, which he finally obtained at D.A.B. After giving his employer 10 days’ notice, the claimant started work at A.B. It was understood that he would work until the thaw, around the end of March, and that he would resume work in June.

The Board noted that it was an annual position. Every year, the wood-cutting season ends when the thaw begins and resumes in the summer. This is the norm for forestry workers. The wood-cutting season ended much earlier for the claimant because his employer’s skidder was damaged in a fire. As a result, the claimant found himself unemployed as of February 21, whereas if he had remained with Sodexo, he would have worked until June at the very least.

Sodexo indicated that, despite the mine’s closing, it might have been possible for the claimant to continue working there for an indeterminate period. The employer’s representative even mentioned the possibility that the mine might be purchased by another company. That purchase did not happen.

Moreover, the claimant thought that he would resume work for A.B., in a job that he had held for 18 years, with an interruption during the thaw period.

The Board found that, under the circumstances, the claimant has shown just cause for voluntarily leaving his employment at Sodexo.

- Work at Sodexo until June and then face uncertainty with respect to another employment;

- Accept his former employer’s offer and resume the work he had been doing for 18 years with the same employer and deal with the possible periods of unemployment that are inherent to forestry work.

In its findings, the Board found the claimant’s testimony credible. The Board also found that the clamant knew that he was going to lose his job in June. As a result, he rightly looked for employment in order to avoid becoming unemployed again in June. The employer that he had worked for for 18 years offered to take him back. The claimant accepted the offer, knowing that the site would close in the spring, but he expressed his confidence that he would resume the employment when the sites reopened. After everything was said and done, he resumed the employment that he had had for 18 years.

Therefore, the Board found that, having regard to all the circumstances, the claimant was justified in resuming work for his former employer believing that he would obtain a permanent position that was obviously subject to the usual interruptions in forestry work.

The Commission criticized the Board for having found that the set of circumstances in this matter justified the claimant’s leaving his employment, which was supposed to have ended in June, for another employment, which, in the past, had been the claimant’s regular job. In fact, the Commission’s position suggests that it would have been preferable for the claimant to have waited for his layoff in June before accepting that job.

Under the circumstances, I cannot find the Board’s decision unreasonable with regard to the evidence. The evidence in this case may give rise to the finding that the claimant was completely justified in leaving an employment that he was going to lose in order to find a job that, in his experience, was an annual position with an interruption during the thaw.