HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO
B E T W E E N:
Robin McPherson
Applicant
-and-
Thrift Magic LP
Respondent
INTERIM DECISION
Adjudicator: Naomi Overend
Indexed as: McPherson v. Thrift Magic LP
1A hearing in respect of this Application is scheduled for October 8 and 9, 2014, in Toronto.
2On October 6, 2014, the applicant requested an adjournment of this hearing on the basis that she is unable to attend due to work commitments. In her request she provides no other reasons or details about these work commitments. The respondent does not oppose this request, but otherwise does not cite any reasons why this matter should be adjourned.
3The adjournment is denied and the hearing will proceed as scheduled.
4In the Notice of Hearing issued on April 17, 2014, the parties were advised as follows:
If you cannot attend the hearing on the date(s) scheduled, you must act within 14 days of the date of this Notice to arrange for rescheduling. After that, a hearing will be adjourned or rescheduled only in exceptional circumstances, even if both parties agree to an adjournment. Retaining a new representative who is not available or prepared to proceed on the scheduled date is normally not considered an exceptional circumstance.
If you need to reschedule, contact the other parties immediately and try to agree on dates that are within 12 weeks of the original hearing date(s). One of the parties, copied to the others, can send the agreed to dates to the HRTO Registrar. The HRTO will make every effort to schedule the hearing for the dates provided by the parties.
If you cannot agree on new dates within two weeks of this notice, the party asking for the rescheduling must contact the HRTO Registrar in writing, copied to all other parties or their representative, and provide five available dates (or blocks of dates if the hearing is scheduled for multiple days) that are within 12 weeks of the originally scheduled hearing date(s).
The HRTO will contact the other parties and try to obtain mutually agreeable dates. If the other parties do not respond or are unable to agree on dates, the HRTO will set the date(s) for the hearing without agreement. Please remember to provide copies to the other parties of anything you send to the HRTO Registrar.
Requests for rescheduling and adjournment will be dealt with in accordance with the Practice Direction on Scheduling located on the HRTO’s website at http://www.hrto.ca/hrto/?q=en/node/46.
5The Tribunal’s Practice Direction on Scheduling of Hearings and Mediations, Rescheduling Requests, and Requests for Adjournments provides that requests to reschedule must be made within 14 days of receiving the Notice of Hearing and that thereafter, adjournments will be granted only in extraordinary circumstances. The Practice Direction states in part as follows:
The HRTO discourages requests for adjournments outside the 14-day period to request rescheduling of a mediation or hearing, described above. Requests for adjournments, particularly at the last minute, are a significant impediment to fair and timely access to justice. Therefore, the HRTO will only grant adjournments in extraordinary circumstances such as illness of a party, witness or representative. Absent exceptional circumstances, the HRTO will not grant adjournments, even when all parties consent.
[7] When a party has been given adequate notice of the hearing, it is their responsibility to ensure that they are available and able to proceed on those dates. As indicated above, the Tribunal affords the parties 14 days after the Notice of Hearing is issued to request a re-scheduling of the hearing where circumstances require it. After that time has passed only extraordinary circumstances will justify an adjournment. As indicated in the Tribunal’s Practice Direction, the late rescheduling of hearings are a significant impediment to the fair and timely scheduling of hearings. The reasons cited for this request do not constitute an exceptional circumstance that would justify an adjournment.
[8] For these reasons the request to adjourn is denied.
Dated at Toronto, this 7th day of October, 2014.
“Signed by”
Naomi Overend
Vice-chair