Tara Dos Remedios v. Amex Bank of Canada, 2013 HRTO 1020

Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

B E T W E E N:

Tara Dos Remedios

Applicant

-and-

Amex Bank of Canada

Respondent

DECISION

Adjudicator: Dawn J. Kershaw Date: June 6, 2013 Citation: 2013 HRTO 1020 Indexed as: Dos Remedios v. Amex Bank of Canada

1This Application was filed on May 9, 2013 under s. 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended, (the “Code”). The Tribunal issued a Notice of Intent to Dismiss (“NOID”) in this matter because it appears that it is not within the jurisdiction of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The applicant alleges she was discriminated against in her employment.

2The respondent is a bank and the provincial Code does not apply to banking which is a federal matter. The applicant asserts that the Application falls within provincial jurisdiction because the respondent is “a credit card company”, not a bank.

3The applicant states that she contacted the Canadian Human Rights Commission (“the federal Commission”) to make the same allegations against the respondent as the allegations in the Application. The federal Commission advised her that she must take her allegations to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario because the federal Commission had no jurisdiction to deal with her allegations.

4The applicant advised in a May 27, 2013 e-mail that she contacted the federal Commission again about her case after she received the NOID, and that she wished to defer this Application pending the outcome of the decision of the federal Commission.

5An application will only be dismissed at a preliminary stage, before it is served on the respondent, if it is “plain and obvious” on the face of the application that it does not fall within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction. See, for example, Masood v. Bruce Power, 2008 HRTO 381.

6The Code only applies to matters that fall within provincial jurisdiction. The federal Commission has power to deal with various human rights matters that fall under federal jurisdiction. Under section 91(15) of the Constitution Act, 1867, the federal Parliament has jurisdiction over “Banking, Incorporation of Banks, and the Issue of Paper Money”. The Code therefore does not apply to banking or employment in banks.

7In Sandoz v. Amex Bank of Canada, 2012 HRTO 525 the Tribunal found that it had no jurisdiction over an Application against the same respondent as in this Application. The respondent is listed as a Schedule II bank in the Bank Act, S.C. 1991, c. 46. There is no allegation or basis to suggest that the applicant worked for a separate division of the bank that is provincially regulated.

8It is plain and obvious that the Tribunal has no jurisdiction over this Application and it is dismissed.