Veteran Yukon union representative Don Evans has been awarded 22 months' salary and benefits as a result of his wrongful dismissal suit against the Teamsters Local 31.

His employer of 23 1/2 years, Local 31 wrongfully terminated the Whitehorse business agent on Jan. 2, 2003, shortly after a Teamsters' election saw a new president voted in, Justice Leigh Gower of the Yukon Supreme Court has found.

In his decision released this week, Gower awarded Evans $132,912 plus interest, less the $32,903 Evans received from the Teamsters while remaining on the payroll during the early months of the dispute.

Gower has also ordered Local 31 to pay a portion of the legal costs incurred by Evans, who was 58 at the time he was wrongfully dismissed.

The court found that when newly-elected president Stan Hennessy notified Evans of his termination on Jan. 2 by fax and then by telephone, the termination had been effected.

Evidence before the court indicates the newly-elected executive based in Vancouver believed that under bylaw 13 of the local's constitution, the term of all business agents automatically came to an end with the election of a new executive.

That belief existed despite mixed messages from the Teamsters' lawyers, particularly since bylaw 13 was enacted long after Evans had been with the local, court documents indicate. Four other business agents were terminated.

There were subsequent discussions and negotiations between Evans and the union regarding what might be an acceptable period for termination notice, though the parties could not agree, Gower noted in his decision.

The judge ruled that regardless of those negotiations, at all times after Jan. 2, Evans was a former employee with grounds to pursue a wrongful dismissal action.

He was under no obligation to accept subsequent offers from the union regarding what it felt was an appropriate termination notice, Gower said. That he did not accept subsequent offers, the judge indicated, does not water down the strength of his case for a wrongful dismissal action.

'To summarize, I conclude that what the union did was terminate Mr. Evans and then attempt to re-hire him for an additional term,' Gower wrote in his 51-page decision.

'However, the negotiations to enter into such a new contract of employment ultimately failed. Thus, the union's termination of Mr. Evans' employment on January 2, 2003 was without cause and without reasonable notice and therefore constitutes a wrongful dismissal.'

Evans declined comment this morning from Toronto, where he is visiting for the holiday season.

'I can't comment until they see if they are going to appeal the decision,' Evans said. 'I am happy, and we will be talking to the lawyer when I get back to see what the costs are because they have awarded costs.'

Ross Peterson, the secretary-treasurer of Local 31, said this morning from his Vancouver office he too is not in a position to comment, having not read the decision. Nor has he had the opportunity to have the union's legal department review the matter.

He did say if the legal department indicates an appeal is an option with a reasonable chance for success, Local 31 will pursue it.

Asked whether Local 31 is facing other wrongful dismissal actions arising out of the Jan. 1, 2003 change of executive, Peterson said he would not comment.

Gower also dismissed the union's arguments that the settlement should be reduced because Evans did not accept the offer to return to work in June 2003, and that he did not make reasonable efforts to find other employment after his was terminated.

As a former employer in a wrongful dismissal case, the burden and it is a heavy burden, according to other cases in Canada falls on the employer to prove the fired employee did not take reasonable steps to find a new job, Gower noted.

Gower said while he was 'not particularly impressed' by Evans' attempt to find work, Local 31 failed to show Evans did not make reasonable efforts.

Evans, according to evidence before the court, did make his availability for work known where it counted, such as in the local truck stops.

Those who mattered, the business agent testified, knew he was looking for work.

'I agree that he put minimal effort into the task, but there is little or no evidence that it would have made a difference if he had done more,' reads Gower's decision.

As for the union's offer to have Evans return to work June 1, 2003 to serve out the remainder of the 24-month termination notice that began Jan. 1, the judge found the letter to be a demand, and not an offer to return to his status as a full-time, indefinite employee.

The judge also ruled that Evans had just cause to be apprehensive about returning to the Whitehorse office of Local 31, noting Evans' testimony how at one time he felt like the new president had treated him like a dog.

In considering the level of financial award in matters where long-serving employees are wrongfully dismissed, there are a number of factors to be considered, Gower writes. He said there is the age, years of service, and likelihood the employee will be able find work in a similar field, among others.

As a rule of thumb in these cases, Gower pointed out, Canadian courts generally award compensation in the order of 18 to 24 months of the normal salary package as compensation.

Evans began driving a school bus for Takhini Transport about two months ago.

His wife, Barb, remains as the long-serving secretary at the Whitehorse office of Teamsters Local 31.