A crane operator with more than 13 years’ service at a unionized steel mill was fired in January 2024. He had carried a loaded scrap box, about 150 tons of metal, over an area where two contractor employees were working from an aerial lift. It was the end of a 12-hour night shift and his relief had just arrived. He had raised the box high to clear the boom of a mobile crane parked on the floor, which was unusual, and the raised box blocked his view below.

A co-worker called for the charge, and he sounded his siren and moved without checking the path himself. The written procedure said loads must not be carried over people below. The employer said he acted with malice and reckless disregard for safety. It pointed to a profane remark about the contractors he made on the radio and to a one-day suspension a year earlier for dropping a scrap box. It also argued the working relationship could not be repaired. The union said he relied on the co-worker to clear the floor and the contractor’s safety person never answered his radio calls. It added that earlier that shift he had asked for a spotter before crossing the same boom.

Was termination justified?