Nicole MacPherson v. Little Britain Meat Packers (2012) Ltd. and Muhammad Pasha, 2015 HRTO 1585

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Nicole MacPherson

Applicant

-and-

Little Britain Meat Packers (2012) Ltd. and Muhammad Pasha

Respondents

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: Sheri D. Price

Date: November 23, 2015

Citation: 2015 HRTO 1585

Indexed as: MacPherson v. Little Britain Meat Packers (2012) Ltd.

1A hearing in respect of this Application is scheduled for November 26 and 27, 2015. This Interim Decision addresses the applicant’s request to adjourn the hearing, based on the unavailability of her legal counsel. The respondents consent to the adjournment.

2As explained in the Tribunal’s “Practice Direction on Scheduling of Hearings and Mediations, Rescheduling Requests, and Requests for Adjournments”, requests for adjournments that are made outside the ordinary time limit for rescheduling requests, as this one is, will only be granted in extraordinary circumstances.

3The applicant’s legal counsel seeks an adjournment on the basis that he only recently learned of the November 2015 hearing dates and he is unavailable on those dates because of a long-standing prior commitment to attend the trial of another matter. Apparently, the applicant’s counsel only recently learned of the hearing dates because, although he attended mediation in this matter on the applicant’s behalf, he was not on record as the applicant’s representative. Accordingly, the Tribunal sent the Notice of Hearing to the applicant directly, instead of her legal representative. The applicant’s counsel indicates that he understood that the Tribunal member who conducted the mediation would arrange to put him on record as the applicant’s representative. I would note, however, that the Tribunal’s general practice is for legal representatives to write to the Registrar directly, advising that they have been retained.

4I am satisfied that the circumstances warrant an adjournment of the hearing. The November 2015 hearing dates are adjourned. The Registrar will reschedule the hearing in consultation with the parties.