Lemieux v. Guelph General Hospital, 2010 HRTO 687

Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

Between:

Lydia Lemieux Applicant

-and-

Guelph General Hospital, Audrey Henderson, Annette Harrington and Kaye Snowe Respondents

Interim Decision

Adjudicator: Mark Hart Date: March 29, 2010 Citation: 2010 HRTO 687 Indexed as: Lemieux v. Guelph General Hospital

1This is an Application made under s. 53(5) of the Ontario Human Rights Code, dated June 29, 2009. The underlying complaint was filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (the “Commission”) on July 3, 2007.

2The purpose of this Interim Decision is to address the applicant’s request for deferral of this Application until completion of the applicant’s proceedings before the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”).

3On January 7, 2010, this Tribunal sent a letter to the parties noting that the respondents had alleged in their Response that the issues in dispute in this Application were the subject of another proceeding that had appropriately dealt with the substance of this Application. The applicant was invited to make written submissions on this issue, and the respondents were afforded an opportunity to file a written reply. The parties also were notified that a hearing was scheduled for April 26, 2010 to deal with this preliminary issue.

4Following the filing of written submissions by the parties, on March 15, 2010 the applicant filed her Request for Order seeking deferral of her Application. While the Request for Order makes reference to the request for deferral being until completion of the applicant’s WSIB proceedings and while there is some reference in the materials on file at the Tribunal to issues that have arisen involving the WSIB, no specific information or material was provided by the applicant to indicate what WSIB proceedings remain outstanding and what the status of those proceedings is.

5The sole issue to be determined at the hearing on April 26, 2010 is whether this Application should be dismissed on the basis of the settlement of the applicant’s grievance entered into by her union with the corporate respondent on April 30, 2008 and in light of the subsequent proceedings before the Ontario Labour Relations Board. While any outstanding WSIB proceedings may have an impact on the merits of this Application or the remedy sought if the Application is not dismissed in response to the respondents’ preliminary objection, the WSIB proceedings do not have any relevance to the preliminary issue being addressed at the hearing scheduled for April 26, 2010.

6For all of these reasons, the applicant’s request for deferral is denied and the hearing of the preliminary issue will proceed as scheduled on April 26, 2010.