2 total
Grievance mediation ordered to proceed via a test case due to dispute over grievors' attendance.
The parties scheduled a hearing date to be used for mediation regarding 16 grievances over the allocation of overtime opportunities.
They could not agree on which of the 13 individual grievors could attend the mediation, with the employer citing operational needs and the union asserting all were entitled to attend.
The arbitrator ordered the matters to proceed via a test case with one grievance proceeding first, without determining remedy at this stage.
Arbitral award quashed for unreasonableness after arbitrator awarded only nominal damages for uninvestigated workplace sexual assault.
The applicant union sought judicial review of a labour arbitration award concerning a grievance for an employer's failure to investigate a workplace sexual assault of a 17-year-old employee.
The arbitrator upheld the grievance but awarded only $1,000 in nominal damages, finding the employee suffered no mental or emotional damages and blaming the lack of a formal complaint.
The Divisional Court found the award unreasonable, holding that the arbitrator failed to address the employer's statutory breaches under the Human Rights Code and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, relied on irrelevant considerations, and used stereotypical reasoning regarding the victim's reaction.
The court quashed the decision and directed a new hearing before a different arbitrator.
