Lisa Mcphee v. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, 2014 HRTO 1201

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Lisa Mcphee

Applicant

-and-

Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and Marion Shaw and Kasha Carson

Respondents

DECISION

Adjudicator: Brian Cook

Date: August 11, 2014

Citation: 2014 HRTO 1201

Indexed as: Mcphee v. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board

1This Application alleges discrimination by the WSIB and two staff members of the WSIB.

2In an earlier Case Assessment Direction, the applicant was asked to explain why the Tribunal has the power to deal with her Application. The Case Assessment Direction noted that the Tribunal has found that it does not have jurisdiction to deal with an Application that alleges that a decision relating to benefits is wrong. The Case Assessment Direction noted that the Application appeared to relate to the way the WSIB decision-makers applied the legislation and WSIB policies and interpreted the medical evidence about her conditions.

3The applicant has made submissions on this issue. She believes that the Tribunal has the authority to deal with her allegations about the WSIB because she is a person with a disability and the decisions in question relate to her entitlement to benefits for her disability and also about work restrictions she has as a result of her disability.

4Under the Code, to establish discrimination because of disability, it is not sufficient for the applicant to establish that she has been treated unfairly and that she is a person with a disability. She must establish that she has been treated differently because of her disability. The same thing applies to other Code-protected grounds. For example, to establish discrimination on the grounds of sex, it is not enough to show that a woman was unfairly treated. She must show that the unfair treatment occurred because of her sex.

5In this case, the applicant is a person with a disability who alleges that she was treated unfairly. This is not sufficient to raise an allegation that she was treated unfairly because she is a person with a disability. The Application does not raise any allegation that if true would show that the applicant experienced discrimination contrary to the Code because of her disability.

6For these reasons, the allegations in the Application are not allegations that this Tribunal has the jurisdiction to deal with. The Application is dismissed on that basis.