A Shuswap hardware store has failed to recoup $4,000 it spent training a staff member after it got them doing yard work instead of driving trucks.

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A Shuswap hardware store has failed to recoup $4,000 it spent training a staff member after it got them doing yard work instead of driving trucks.

The issue involves Salmon Arm Building Supply that operates the RONA store and employed Cameron Scott Iverson in May 2023 as a delivery truck driver.

According to an Oct. 22 BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, Iverson was offered $24 an hour for a 40-hour, Monday-to-Friday work week.

The job involved using a truck-mounted crane, and RONA paid a third-party company for a two days of training so Iverson could learn how to use it.

However, several months after RONA hired Iverson he resigned saying the company had failed to give him 40 hours as a truck driver and instead had him working in the yard.

"Mr. Iversen says he worked hard to obtain a commercial driver’s licence so he could stop doing 'brutal labour positions' like the yard work (RONA) offered," the decision read.

While Iversen offered to pay back the training in his resignation letter, he also argued that RONA had broken its agreement and he was supposed to have been employed as a delivery driver.

RONA then took him to the online small claims court over the money it spent on the crane training course.

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The evidence provided to the Tribunal showed that Iversen had consistently complained to manager Michael Allen that he was offered a full-time driving position but instead had been given a full-time yard worker position.

He asked the company that if it didn't need a full-time driver to cut his hours to part-time so he could find a second job.

"Mr. Allen did not address these suggestions," the decision read.

RONA argued it always gave Iversen 40 hours of work and referred to the job description.

However, the company failed to provide the job description in evidence to the Tribunal.

"This means the Tribunal can assume that the evidence does not exist or does not support the party’s position," the Tribunal ruled. "This means I find that if there was a job description, it either did not include yard work at all or it said that Mr. Iversen’s duties were primarily to drive and operate the crane truck, with only supplemental yard work."

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The Tribunal ruled RONA had broken the employment contract.

"I find there was a significant difference between the mobile crane delivery truck experience Mr. Iversen was contractually entitled to and the physically demanding yard work he received. I find that (RONA's) provision of something close to full-time delivery work and adequate supervision of Mr. Iversen’s crane operation were fundamental contractual terms," The Tribunal ruled.

Citing other legal cases, the Tribunal ruled that as RONA had breached the employment contract Iverson did not have to pay them back for any training and dismissed the company's claim.

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