Bell Fires Employees After Attendance Falsification Review
Bell fires employees after parent company BCE Inc. said a small number of workers intentionally and repeatedly falsified workplace attendance. The company said the terminations followed an internal review that found misconduct across offices in Canada.
Luc Levasseur, a Bell spokesperson, said, "In each case, there was a thorough investigation and individuals were presented with clear evidence of their misconduct" and that "The majority of individuals admitted to deliberate and repeated falsification of workplace attendance,"
Bell and BCE Inc.
Bell said the employees were dismissed for what it described as "swipe and go" behavior. In some cases, workers entered the office, swiped their key cards to record attendance, and immediately left the premises.
One employee swiped their card just before midnight and again after the hour to signal that they had been in the office two days in a row. Another entered the company’s premises, used fitness facilities, and then left. Bell said the conduct took place in offices across the country.
Workplace Attendance Policy
The firings come as Bell has kept a three-day in-office policy for most of its corporate employees. Bell also said no unionized employees were affected and that there is no wider workforce reduction program under way.
Samfiru Tumarkin LLP said it had been contacted by a few dozen former Bell employees who allege they were fired for coffee badging or a badge in and bounce. Spokesperson Ryan Bonnar wrote that "The message we’re hearing in some cases is that this wasn’t a secret – it was a workplace culture often encouraged by their own managers. These employees believed that as long as they completed their work and hit their targets, their physical location was secondary,"
Canadian Employment Law
Teilen Celentano, an employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, said "a company would typically have to warn employees before terminating them for cause". Tara Vasdani, managing partner and employment lawyer with Remote Law Canada, said, "Traditionally, the courts have reserved findings of cause for serious misconduct such as theft, fraud, dishonesty or other conduct that irreparably damages the employment relationship".
For workers, the immediate consequence is direct: Bell said it treated the attendance falsification as a termination matter, and the company said the dismissals are being considered for cause. That can carry major consequences in Canadian employment cases, including loss of severance entitlements.
