Zoran Vasileski v. Corporation of the City of Hamilton, Community Services Department, Ontario Works, Heather Russell and Carole Zoghaib, 2013 HRTO 1708

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Zoran Vasileski

Applicant

-and-

Corporation of the City of Hamilton, Community Services Department, Ontario Works, Heather Russell and Carole Zoghaib

Respondents

-and-

Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 5167

Intervenor

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: Ena Chadha

Date: October 10, 2013

Citation: 2013 HRTO 1708

Indexed as: Vasileski v. Corporation of the City of Hamilton,

Community Services Department, Ontario Works

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS

Zoran Vasileski, Applicant ) Self-represented

Canadian Union of Public Employees, ) Elizabeth Nurse, Counsel

Local 5167, Affected Party )

1The applicant filed this Application on April 30, 2012, under section 34 of the Ontario Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the "Code"), alleging discrimination with respect to employment.

2The applicant's materials reference concerns regarding his interactions with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 5167 ("the Union").

3On August 15, 2013, the Union filed a Request to Intervene in this Application. The Union states that it is the bargaining agent for a bargaining unit of employees with the respondent employer and that it has knowledge of the circumstances alleged in the Application narrative.

4The applicant filed submissions opposing the request to intervene. The applicant submits that the Union has not represented his interests and, consequently, he has filed a separate application as against the Union. The applicant submits that the Union should not be granted full party status.

5In accordance with the Tribunal's standard practice where an applicant is a member of a bargaining unit represented by a union or association, the Union's request to intervene is granted. As the Tribunal indicated in Boyce v. Toronto Community Housing Corporation, 2009 HRTO 131:

A union or association nearly always has an interest in a human rights application brought by an employee in a bargaining unit it represents when the application alleges discrimination in employment. Absent exceptional circumstances, the applicant's bargaining agent will be granted intervention status in Tribunal proceedings where it requests it.

6The scope of the Union participation in any mediation and/or hearing will be determined by the mediator and/or adjudicator overseeing this matter.

7I am not seized.