Georgina Watts

Sobeys Capital Inc. applied for judicial review of an Ontario Labour Relations Board decision certifying Local 633 as a craft bargaining unit for 15 meat department workers at a Toronto supermarket.

Sobeys argued the decision was unreasonable, contrary to precedent, and created an absurd result by leaving the remaining 92 percent of employees non-unionized.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, finding the OLRB's decisions under both s. 9(3) and s. 9(1) of the Labour Relations Act were reasonable, given the union's long history of representing supermarket meat department employees and the lack of evidence that certification would cause labour relations problems.

The applicant union sought judicial review of an interest arbitration award that set the terms of a renewal collective agreement for employees of a long-term care home.

The union argued that the wage adjustments awarded were unreasonable and that the arbitration board failed to provide adequate reasons, placed too much reliance on a master agreement, and failed to properly apply the statutory criteria under the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, finding that the board's decision was reasonable, adequately explained, and fell within the range of acceptable outcomes given the legislative nature of interest arbitration and the deference owed to such awards.

The applicant union sought judicial review of a labour arbitration award concerning a grievance for an employer's failure to investigate a workplace sexual assault of a 17-year-old employee.

The arbitrator upheld the grievance but awarded only $1,000 in nominal damages, finding the employee suffered no mental or emotional damages and blaming the lack of a formal complaint.

The Divisional Court found the award unreasonable, holding that the arbitrator failed to address the employer's statutory breaches under the Human Rights Code and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, relied on irrelevant considerations, and used stereotypical reasoning regarding the victim's reaction.

The court quashed the decision and directed a new hearing before a different arbitrator.

A case management teleconference was held to schedule a motion to strike an affidavit filed by the responding party in an application for judicial review.

The underlying application concerns an arbitrator's decision regarding a grievance filed after a union member was sexually assaulted at work.

The court scheduled the motion to proceed before a single judge of the Divisional Court by ZOOM videoconference in October 2020 and set out the timetable for serving and filing materials.

The applicant union sought judicial review of an arbitrator's award upholding discipline against a grievor who refused to clean a workplace washroom.

The grievor, who had Hepatitis C, suffered a nosebleed and disposed of bloody tissues in the washroom.

When directed to clean and sanitize the area, he refused, claiming discrimination based on his disability.

The arbitrator found the employer's request reasonable and held that a single instance did not constitute a course of vexatious conduct under the Human Rights Code.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, finding no error in the arbitrator's conclusion that the incident was a matter of industrial discipline rather than discrimination or harassment.