Okanagan Man Fired After Dumping 5,000 Litres of Wine – 980 CKNW

An Okanagan man who was fired from a B.C. winery after dumping over 5,000 litres of wine won’t be getting his job back.

Cellarman Brent Crozier accidentally sent 5,680 litres of sauvignon blanc down a floor drain on November 19, 2018. The incident occurred at Mission Hill Winery. The dumped wine had a retail value of $162,464.40.

Lior Samfiru is a Canadian employment lawyer, and partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP. He joined host Jill Bennett on Global News Radio 980 CKNW in Vancouver to discuss whether or not the employee’s mistake amounted to a termination for cause.

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What Happened

Crozier was tasked with transferring the wine from one tank to another. After initiating the transfer, Crozier noticed wine leaking into a floor drain. He had failed to properly close a valve, through which the wine escaped.

A month following the spill, Crozier was dismissed with cause.

The Service Employees International Union grieved his dismissal. In December 2019, labour arbitrator Nicholas Glass found that Mission Hill Winery’s decision to terminate Crozier’s employment was acceptable. The grievance was therefore dismissed.

Not the first time this happened

Glass argued that Crozier made the same mistake in 2017, when he sent 11,000 litres of wine down the drain.

Crozier told the arbitrator that he was under an extreme amount of pressure and stress when the 2018 incident occurred. He claimed that he had clocked a total of 257 overtime hours, and was working 7 days a week.

Glass said that he was “struck by the magnitude of the grievor’s carelessness in 2017… which should have impressed upon him the importance of applying himself conscientiously to his duties, but which clearly had no effect because he was guilty of the same negligent misconduct” in 2018.

5,000 litre wine dump: Termination for cause?

“If this was a first and isolated incident, as extreme as it was, it would not have justified a termination for cause,” employment lawyer Lior Samfiru told Global News Radio 980 CKNW.

“Because it was a second incident in a year or so, I think it was the right decision. Most business owners would have a problem keeping an employee who makes such expensive mistakes frequently.”

Samfiru pointed out during the interview that a termination for cause in British Columbia is reserved for the “worst offenders” in the workplace. Employees who engage in serious misconduct – think theft, for example – open themselves up to dismissal for cause, without severance pay.

Many employers, however, attempt to apply the “for cause” label to terminations where the designation is not justified.

For instance, an employer may decide to fire an employee “for cause” because their performance has dropped, despite that employee’s best efforts to improve their work. A court would likely find that poor performance does not amount to a case of serious misconduct. While the employer has every right to let the employee go, they can only do so as a termination without cause. The employer would have to provide the employee with severance pay. If appropriate severance is not provided, the employee can pursue a wrongful dismissal claim.