Arbitrator orders railway company to reinstate train engineer involved in Lac-Megantic tragedy

CTV Montreal: Harding to be reinstated A labour arbitrator has ordered the Central Maine and Quebec Railway to reinstate locomotive engineer Thomas Harding.

A labour arbitrator has ordered the Central Maine & Quebec Railway to reinstate locomotive engineer Thomas Harding almost six years after a spectacular tragedy that cost the lives of 47 people in Lac-Megantic on July 6, 2013.

Harding was suspended from his job, but continued to receive worker’s compensation from the CNESST until last spring.

When he tried to return to work last June for Central Maine & Quebec Railway, the new owners of the bankrupt Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, Harding was notified he was being terminated as a result of his actions in the Lac-Megantic disaster.

Union filed a grievance

Harding’s union, the United Steelworkers, filed a grievance and argued that CMQR didn’t follow proper procedure when it fired him. It also argued that his employer also had to bear a major share of the responsibility, because of its own negligence in safety and training issues. The company justified the firing by using a report from the Transport Safety Board which partly blamed Harding for the accident.

But a labour arbitrator ruled last week that the employer had a duty to carry out its own investigation in their employee’s actions before dismissing Harding. Based on his contract’s wording, the disciplinary action became null and void.

The company is not only forced to re-hire Harding, but it must also reimburse his lost salary, benefits, and reestablish his seniority – though at the end of the administration process, the company said it would rather compensate Harding financially instead of taking him back.

The two sides are now negotiating a final settlement.

A representative for the United Steelworkers union declined to comment to CTV News, because of the ongoing negotiations.

Harding was acquitted

Thomas Harding was acquitted of criminal negligence charges along with two co-workers a year ago in Sherbrooke.

His co-accused later received a suspended sentence in front of an administrative tribunal for failing to properly secure the brakes on the train. As a result, the 72-car convoy began sliding towards the town of Lac-Megantic, without anyone on board to stop it.

The tanker cars exploded, creating a massive fire that destroyed the city’s downtown core. A review of MMA’s operations led to a number of recommendations to prevent such tragedies from happening again, including safety improvements for the transportation of combustibles. The top management of MMA was never prosecuted.

Last fall, the TVA network reported that Harding was now working for a municipality in the Eastern Townships.

His lawyer Tom Walsh described the ruling as “good news” for his client, but he hadn’t had a chance to discuss it with him.