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Civil action against union organizers stayed as matters fell within exclusive jurisdiction of labour board.
The plaintiff employer brought a civil action against union organizers for economic torts, including inducing breach of contract and civil conspiracy, alleging they improperly obtained confidential employee information during a union organizing campaign.
The defendant organizers moved to stay the action.
The Superior Court granted the stay, finding that the essential character of the dispute fell within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Ontario Labour Relations Board under the Labour Relations Act, 1995.
The court also found the civil action was an abuse of process, as the employer had already raised the same factual issues before the Board in ongoing certification proceedings.
WSIAT decision quashed; employer can use lack of workplace exposure to rebut firefighter occupational disease presumption.
The City of Toronto applied for judicial review of WSIAT decisions granting breast cancer benefits to three communications dispatchers under the firefighter occupational disease presumption.
The WSIAT had ruled that evidence of the dispatchers' lack of exposure to fire suppression hazards could not be considered to rebut the presumption.
The Divisional Court found this interpretation unreasonable, as it contradicted the plain meaning of the statute and the binding WSIB policy, which allowed the presumption to be rebutted by evidence that employment was not a significant contributing factor.
The WSIAT decisions were quashed and the original WSIB decisions denying benefits were restored.
