The Reasonable Person Standard

Is this member being insubordinate?

The question of whether this is insubordination will probably end up coming down to an application of the reasonable person standard. Would a reasonable person consider the worker’s response to be a refusal to do the work? Would a reasonable person consider the supervisor’s response to be an overreaction?

In the give and take of the workplace, employees sometimes try to get their supervisors to do the work in a slightly different way. Merely suggesting an alternative is not insubordination. For most people — and that includes arbitrators — this situation comes down to the supervisor’s response.

A good response — a reasonable response — would be to take the worker’s concerns under consideration, but let him know the work needs to be done. The supervisor might ask, “What can we do to get this done?” He might suggest the employee take a brief rest and then do the task.

If he just says, “Do the job now or I’ll write you up for insubordination,” his actions are not going to look reasonable to a third party — such as an arbitrator.

In the scenario above, you can see that each party’s choice of words is crucial to whether we perceive their action as reasonable or unreasonable. For example, what if the worker had simply said, “I’m not going to do it. I’m tired and it’s nearly quitting time.”

Suddenly the question of who is being reasonable is put in a different light.