Three workers fired by the University of Saskatchewan for taking cafeteria food home are headed back to an arbitration board.

The group was fired in 2012 while working at the university's ag-bio cafeteria.

Over the span of a year, the three workers brought soup, gravy and expired fruit cups home from work. They also ate soup from the cafeteria without paying.

Previously, an arbitration board had ruled that the group's firing was an "excessive disciplinary response" and asked the two sides to come up with another solution.

The board ruled that university policy didn't explicitly state workers would be fired for theft. It also noted that everyone in the group had an "unblemished work record."

However, in a written decision, Justice Brian Scherman wrote there were problems with the board's ruling.

"The thefts involved were not isolated thefts that occurred on impulse," he wrote. "There was clearly a pattern of ongoing thefts compounded by initial denial, [and] lack of remorse."

The judge also ruled that the lead cashier had destroyed the relationship between herself and the university after telling workers they were allowed to break policy and bring food home.

Justice Scherman ordered that a new arbitration board be formed and a solution be found. A new date hasn't been set.