Sharon Winger v. 1825094 Ontario Limited o/a Papa Nick’s Bakery & Cafeteria, 2015 HRTO 1529

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Sharon Winger

Applicant

-and-

1825094 Ontario Limited o/a Papa Nick’s Bakery & Cafeteria

Respondent

DECISION

Adjudicator: Maureen Doyle

Date: November 13, 2015

Citation: 2015 HRTO 1529

Indexed as: Winger v. 1825094 Ontario Limited

APPEARANCES

Sharon Winger, Applicant

Joanne Rattie, Representative

1825094 Ontario Limited o/a Papa Nick’s Bakery & Cafeteria, Respondent

Debbie Bessey, Representative

Introduction

1This Application, filed April 8, 2015, alleges contravention of a settlement of an Application made pursuant to the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”). The applicant seeks payment of the amount agreed upon in the Minutes of Settlement.

2The respondent does not deny having contravened the settlement of an Application made pursuant to the Code. In its April 22, 2015 Response to this Application, the respondent agreed that it had not made a payment to the applicant, but stated that its bank account had been frozen by the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”). It stated that cheques had been printed out but not mailed and that “when the account becomes active again, the cheques will be mailed”. It indicated that it did not want to mail the cheques when they were not cashable and that it was anticipated that the bank account would be “active” at the beginning of May.

3A telephone conference was convened regarding this Application and all parties participated.

4At the hearing, the parties agreed that they had signed Minutes of Settlement dated March 20, 2015 (“MOS”). One of the terms of the MOS required the respondent to pay the sum of $1500.00, classified as general damages, to the applicant in three equal installments. The first payment was to be made on April 1, 2015, the second was to be made on May 1, 2015 and the third was to be made on June 1, 2015.

5At the hearing, the parties agreed that none of the cheques have been mailed as of the date of the hearing.

6In her evidence, the applicant testified that she has received no communication from the respondent regarding the outstanding payments.

7In her evidence, the owner of the respondent business, Ms. Debbie Bessey, testified that the CRA freeze of its bank account was lifted at the end of April, but that she has not attempted to make any partial payments since that time as the business has had no money. She testified that she had been hoping to sell the business and that if she had been able to do so she would have been able to pay the outstanding amounts to the applicant. She testified that the business continues to operate, that staff continues to be paid, but that suppliers “don’t all get paid”.

8There is no dispute that the amounts agreed upon in the MOS continue to be outstanding. While the respondent business may have had a practical difficulty paying the first outstanding amount on time due to the fact that CRA had frozen its bank accounts, this does not alter the fact that it owes the amount of $1500.00 to the applicant.

ORDER

9The respondents will pay to the applicant the sum of $1500.00 together with prejudgement interest at the rate of 1% on the entire sum of $1500.00 from June 1, 2015, the date by which the entire amount should have been paid to the applicant, to the date of this Decision. Post-judgment interest is also payable by the respondent at the rate of 2% from the date of this Decision.

Dated at Toronto, this 13^th day of November, 2015.

“Signed by”

Maureen Doyle

Vice-chair

AMENDMENT

1The decision is amended to reflect the correct name of the respondent, 1825094 Ontario Limited o/a Papa Nick’s Bakery and Cafeteria, in the style of cause and on the appearances page.