Tingley v. Public Service Alliance of Canada, 2010 HRTO 1287

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Sherrie Tingley

Applicant

-and-

Public Service Alliance of Canada

Respondent

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: Kaye Joachim

Date: June 7, 2010

Citation: 2010 HRTO 1287

Indexed as: Tingley v. Public Service Alliance of Canada

1A Hearing in this matter is scheduled for June 16, 2010. This Interim Decision addresses the applicant’s request for an adjournment.

2The applicant’s counsel wrote to the Tribunal on June 4, 2010 seeking an adjournment of the Hearing on the basis that the applicant is unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances requiring her attendance at work involving National Public Service Week during the week of June 14, 2010. In addition, the applicant states that they are awaiting response to a request for production sent to the respondent on May 27, 2010.

3While the Tribunal’s Information Bulletin on Scheduling of Hearings and Mediations, Rescheduling Requests and Requests for Adjournments does not specifically apply to Transition Applications, nonetheless the principles set out in this Information Bulletin are equally applicable to Transition Applications.

4The Tribunal’s Information Bulletin provides that requests to reschedule must be made within five (5) days of receiving the Confirmation of Hearing and that thereafter, adjournments will be granted only in extraordinary circumstances. The Information Bulletin states the following regarding requests for adjournments:

Requests for adjournment, particularly last minute requests for adjournments are a significant impediment to fair and timely access to justice.

The Tribunal’s approach to scheduling and rescheduling mediations and hearings is designed to give the parties a fair opportunity to find suitable dates. Therefore, the Tribunal discourages adjournment requests, and will only grant adjournments in extraordinary circumstances such as illness of a party, witness or representative.

The Tribunal will not automatically grant adjournments even when all parties consent. Consent of all parties will be a factor which the Tribunal will consider where a request to adjourn a mediation or hearing is made, but it is not the only, or even the main factor.

Where a party seeks to adjourn a previously scheduled mediation or hearing, they must contact the Registrar as soon as the need arises. If practical, they should contact the other parties to seek their consent, and to discuss alternate dates for the rescheduling of the mediation or hearing. Alternate dates for mediation must fall within five (5) months of the date of the Notice of Application. Alternative dates for a hearing must fall within five (5) months of the date of the Confirmation of Hearing.

The party making the request should contact the Registrar and provide the reason for the request and the alternative agreed upon dates. Where the request is on short notice, the party must contact the Registrar by telephone or email.

The Tribunal typically will not adjourn a hearing date because the parties wish to “engage in settlement discussions” or are “close to a deal”. The Tribunal encourages mediation and settlements, and will assist the parties in this regard. Where parties believe they may be able to resolve a matter shortly before the scheduled hearing, they should advise the Registrar and the Tribunal will make a mediator and mediation room available. However, the Tribunal discourages the cancellation or adjournment of hearing dates so that the parties can explore settlement.

5The reasons for the Request do not constitute exceptional circumstances that would permit an adjournment. The applicant has known since February 3, 2010, when the Tribunal sent a Notice of Hearing that the hearing was scheduled in June 2010 and had the opportunity to request a rescheduling. It is inevitable that the scheduling of hearing days will create some degree of conflict with work requirements in many cases. This is simply part of the adjudication process and does not constitute the kind of exceptional circumstances that would warrant granting an adjournment request of this nature. Further, the applicant’s last minute request for production (less than three weeks before the scheduled hearing date) cannot be used to the advantage of the applicant to justify a last minute adjournment request.

6The request for adjournment is denied.

7The requested production can be raised with the Adjudicator hearing this matter on June 16, 2010.