Kovacs v. Ontario (Community Safety and Correctional Services), 2012 HRTO 257

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Ernie Kovacs

Applicant

-and-

Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario as represented by the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board

Respondents

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: David A. Wright

Date: February 6, 2012

Citation: 2012 HRTO 257

Indexed as: Kovacs v. Ontario (Community Safety and Correctional Services)

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS

Ernie Kovacs, Applicant ) Self-represented

Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario ) Indira Sawh, Counsel As Represented by the Minister of Community ) Safety and Correctional Services, Respondent )

1This Interim Decision addresses the respondent Minister’s request that the Application be deferred pending the completion of grievance and arbitration proceedings. This Application is based on the same set of facts as an ongoing grievance under the collective agreement filed by the applicant.

2The respondent Workplace Safety and Insurance Board took no position on the Request. The applicant opposes the request, among other reasons, on the basis that not all issues are the same in the grievance and the Application, and suggests that if the Tribunal defers the Application, the respondent will not have to deal with the grievance or the complaint.

3The Tribunal will generally defer applications pending the completion of grievance and arbitration proceedings under a collective agreement that raise the same issues as those in the Application: Melville v. Toronto (City), 2012 HRTO 22. Labour arbitrators have jurisdiction to apply the Code and the Tribunal’s approach to deferral avoids the duplication of proceedings. The applicant does not dispute that he has an ongoing grievance raising many of the same issues and, in my view, there are no exceptional circumstances in this case that justify a departure from the Tribunal’s general approach. The applicant may request that the Application proceed when the grievance and arbitration process has concluded, subject the respondent’s right to argue under s. 45.1 of the Code that the Application has been appropriately dealt with in that process.

4The Application will be deferred pending the completion of the grievance and arbitration process. The Tribunal directs the parties’ attention to Rules 14.3 and 14.4 which outline the procedure by which a party may request that the Application be reactivated. This must be done within 60 days of the conclusion of the other proceeding.

5I am not seized.