The British Columbia Labour Relations Board has dismissed an application by the BC Teachers’ Federation to include the delivery of attendance records in the list of duties teachers need not perform during their current labour dispute. The BCTF had applied to amend the original essential services order issued by the Board on September 23, 2005.
The BCTF said teachers would continue to take attendance but should not have to deliver these attendance records to the school office. BCPSEA argued that teachers must not only keep attendance but must also submit the attendance to the school office in order to ensure student safety and the maintenance of essential services.
The Board dismissed the BCTF’s application, concluding that the issue of how and by whom various duties pertaining to an essential service are carried out is a matter left to the employer’s discretion, except as specifically set out in the essential services order. Accordingly, the Board ruled that teachers must not only continue to take attendance but also that those attendance records must be transmitted or delivered to the school office in the normal fashion.