It’s a busy time in the news for the world of employment. Much of the recent news proves that humans can be the weak link in the chain when it comes to the employment relationship.

In Edmonton, a man stands accused of invading a Workers’ Compensation Board office with a rifle and holding nine people hostage for hours. He is charged with unlawful confinement, pointing a firearm, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public and other offences.

News reports indicated that his frustration with the workers’ compensation claims process was (in part) his motivation for this desperate act. He isn’t alone in his frustration but that, of course, doesn’t excuse such heinous disregard for the liberty and safety of others.

At Minneapolis, pilots of a Northwest Airlines flight are under scrutiny after having over-flown their destination by over 100 miles. Passengers were, apparently, unaware that anything was wrong even as the jet fell out of contact with air traffic controllers for over an hour.

The initial explanation given was that the flight crew was distracted due to a heated discussion. No evidence has yet been released – from the jet’s cockpit voice recorder – as to what was actually going on but some industry observers have speculated the pilots may have fallen asleep.

In Toronto, there is a developing furor over the arrest and charging of a shopkeeper as a result of him, along with his employees, having captured an alleged shoplifter and held him for police. The shop had been repeatedly victimized by the same individual and, having had enough, the owner and his employees caught the thief, tied him up, and held him in a van while awaited the arrival of police.

The owner has been charged with forcible confinement and concealing a weapon (he apparently had a box cutter on his belt at the time – not exactly a weapon of mass destruction) as a result of the takedown of the thief. The decision by crown prosecutors to charge the shopkeeper seems like the sort of ill-advised exercise of discretion that happens in an organization preoccupied with procedure at the expense of results.

Is there any common thread linking these three situations? Or, was it just a busy week for strange tales from the employment world?

I do think one thing that can be said about these stories is that they all demonstrate that nobody is perfect. Regardless of the badge we wear – workers’ compensation claims adjudicator, airline pilot, or crown prosecutor – we are all just human under the skin.

The workers’ compensation hostage story has drawn all sorts of frustrated, unsuccessful claimants out of the woodwork to voice their support for the gunman. They will take advantage of this almost-tragic episode to advance their agenda of bad-mouthing their provincial workers compensation regime.

The fact is that thousands upon thousands of workers’ compensation claims are filed in each province each year – no enviable record, that – and the vast majority of those claims are accepted and are processed swiftly and smoothly. Although obvious, it bears noting that the complainers will tend to fall within the category whose claims were rejected.

As cumbersome and seemingly impenetrable as government-operated administrative structures (workers compensation, employment standards, human rights, and labour relations to name a few) can seem at times, my experience is that they tend to be populated by people who care deeply about their work and take pride in what they do. One of the tasks they are charged with is weeding out the undeserving claims.

Do they make the occasional mistake? Of course they do, just like you and I do in the course of our own work. But that’s why appeal processes exist. Anyone with the time and motivation can easily discover the available structures by which a denied claim can be reconsidered.

The airline story is one which strikes close to home for anyone who ever boards an airline which, I’d guess, is just about all of us. The concept of pilots, with hundreds of lives in their hands, losing focus to the extent of missing their destination is one which can cause the heart to skip a beat.

But long before pilots got their wings, they joined the fraternity of humanity. Humans make mistakes, lose focus, get sleepy, and occasionally miss their appointed destinations.

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