At the end of each of four consecutive years, the grievor received payments representing a cash-out of vacation leave credits he had accumulated over the maximum allowable carry over limit provided for in the collective agreement – the employer performed an audit of his leave bank and found that the vacation leave that he had taken during those four years had not been processed properly, resulting in him accumulating excessive leave credits to which he was not entitled – the employer recovered the overpayments as a debt to the Crown and suspended him for five days for having knowingly accepted payments to which he was not entitled – the parties never intended that clause 14.03 of the collective agreement be used by employees who seek to profit from administrative errors, especially those that result from the employee’s own error – the intention of the clause is to preserve the legitimate and acquired rights of an employee to his or her accumulated leave credits when he or she changes bargaining units – clause 14.03 is inapplicable to cases where the claim is not legitimate – the disciplinary sanction was appropriate – the grievor chose not to bring the overpayments to the attention of his employer, which was wilful deceit – the penalty was appropriate.

Grievance against overpayment recovery allowed in part.

Grievance against suspension denied.