Edmonton loses bid for appeal in battle to have transit operators pay photo radar fines

The City of Edmonton's latest attempt to have transit operators pay their own photo radar fines has been quashed by Alberta's highest court. 

City administration and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 569 have been in a protracted legal dispute over who should pay for automated speeding and red-light camera tickets received by drivers on the job.

For years, the city required that drivers pay their own fines, but that policy was reversed following a June 2021 arbitration decision that sided with the transit union. 

The city's application for permission to appeal that arbitration decision was rejected last week by the Court of Appeal of Alberta. 

In her decision issued on August 30, Chief Justice Ritu Khullar said she could find no errors of law in the previous decision and that the arbitration board's ruling should stand.

City employees haven't had to pay their own tickets since July 2021 but do face disciplinary action for workplace safety infractions, including photo radar tickets. 

Steve Bradshaw, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 569, said that after years of legal wrangling, the court ruling comes as a relief to his members, including bus drivers, peace officers and transit inspectors.

"The city pursued this vehemently," Bradshaw said. "They took it every possible court that they could in this province and everybody said, 'No, you're you're wrong, you can't do that.'" 

"This disagreement has been running for five years and and to have it finally concluded, of course it's a good day."

City officials have not responded to a request for comment on the decision. 

The dispute over traffic enforcement fines began with a grievance filed by the transit union in July 2018 and heard by the Alberta Labour Relations Board in June 2021.

The union argued that requiring union members who drive city vehicles to pay their own photo enforcement tickets was unreasonable and violated the collective agreement. 

The union said city adminstration "was not actually out of pocket" by paying the fines as the photo radar enforcement program is administered by the city. 

The union further asserted that the policy amounted to double discipline, as drivers who were ticketed faced additional disciplinary measures for each infraction, ranging from written reprimands to unpaid suspensions and ultimately, termination.