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It took nearly five years, but the Canada Revenue Agency has been ordered to give 3.5 hours of paid leave to an employee in Prince Edward Island for time he missed from work because of a fierce snowstorm that lashed the province, closed schools, scrubbed flights and even forced the government office where he worked to shut down early.

The grievance, by employee Leslie Smith and his union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, was heard in Ottawa this summer by Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board and a ruling was published online last week. It is an almost identical ruling to one issued in 2016 for another snowbound federal employee.

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“We’ve won these cases in the past,” PSAC vice-president Magali Picard said. “It’s hard for me to understand … Why they would penalize an employee when it’s something completely out of their control.”

The storm on Dec. 4, 2013, hit the island with 15 centimetres of heavy, wet snow and high winds. Smith, who lives in Summerside, an hour’s drive from his job at the Charlottetown Tax Services Office, called CRA’s employee emergency line that morning to see if the office was open. After learning it was, Smith set out at 7:04 a.m., driving for 20-25 minutes on unplowed roads before deciding it was too dangerous and returning home.