Arbitrator upholds NAIT's decision to fire instructor over sexual harassment of 3 workers

Warning: This article contains detailed descriptions of sexual harassment

The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) was right to fire an employee who repeatedly sexually harassed three co-workers, an arbitrator has ruled.

NAIT fired Dwayne Rurka, a co-ordinator of evening and weekend programs in the School of Applied Sciences and Technology, on Aug. 19, 2019.

In Rurka's termination letter, NAIT said it had investigated and concluded that he had "repeatedly, and without consent, made unwanted comments and/or jokes to three employees that were sexual in nature, or had sexual connotations or undertones, while in the workplace."

The letter also said Rurka subjected two employees to "unwanted touching while in the workplace."

The NAIT Academic Staff Association (NASA), the union representing the school's more than 850 academic workers, filed a grievance on Rurka's behalf.

Following a hearing last year, arbitrator Greg Francis dismissed the grievance, saying NAIT's decision to dismiss Rurka was the just and reasonable response to his harassment of his colleagues.

"The evidence against the grievor is simply overwhelming," Francis wrote in a Jan. 19 decision.

Rurka, who is 54 and lives in St. Albert, started working as an instructor at NAIT in September of 1998.

In May 2017, he became an evening and weekend delivery co-ordinator, which involved scheduling instructors, finding new instructors, purchasing and other duties. 

NAIT argued at the hearing that Rurka, who was in a leadership position, had a pattern of sexual harassment for which he failed to accept responsibility.

One of NAIT's witnesses, a temporary employee who worked with Rurka, said he made inappropriate sexual comments to her at work, including remarks about her appearance.

She recalled him ogling her body, growling and saying, "God, I love you in that dress." She testified that she felt increasingly anxious each morning as she chose what to wear to work.

She would change three or four times while trying to select which outfit to wear, not wanting more ogling or comments.