Kathleen D. Tate

The plaintiff staffing agency brought a motion for summary judgment for unpaid invoices relating to temporary workers provided to the defendant.

The defendant admitted liability for the invoices but raised an equitable set-off defence, alleging the plaintiff was negligent or breached the contract in relation to a prior fraudulent scheme orchestrated by the defendant's own manager involving 'phantom labourers'.

The court granted summary judgment, finding that the equitable set-off defence failed because the prior fraudulent invoices were not sufficiently closely connected to the unpaid invoices to directly impeach the plaintiff's claim.

The respondent requested the dismissal of three allegations of discrimination that occurred more than one year before the Application was filed.

The applicant argued the incidents formed a series of events culminating in his termination.

The Tribunal declined to dismiss the allegations at the preliminary stage, finding that whether the incidents constituted a series of events with a thematic connection could only be determined after hearing evidence at the merits hearing.

The respondent's request was dismissed.

The applicant filed a Request for an Order During Proceeding seeking to narrow the issues based on alleged admissions by the respondent, arguing for a procedure akin to summary judgment.

The respondent opposed the request, arguing it had not made the admissions and that disposing of the application without a hearing would deny natural justice.

The Tribunal denied the request, finding that its rules do not permit deciding in favour of an applicant without allowing the respondent to present its case, and that doing so would amount to a denial of natural justice.