Jennifer Hodgins

The applicants sought judicial review of an Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) decision declaring them 'related employers' under s. 1(4) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995.

The union had argued that the employer's use of independent contractors eroded bargaining rights.

The Divisional Court found the OLRB Vice Chair's decision unreasonable because it failed to consider the history of collective bargaining, the collective agreement, and letters of understanding regarding the employer's longstanding practice of contracting out work.

The court held that this failure led to a decontextualized analysis of the employer's control over the contractors.

The court set aside the OLRB decision and remitted the matter for a fresh hearing before a different Vice Chair.

The appellant challenged an order refusing to set aside a Registrar’s administrative dismissal of the action for delay.

The Court of Appeal held that the motion judge applied the correct legal test and that no palpable and overriding error was shown in the exercise of discretion.

The court also found the explanation for the very significant delay in bringing the motion after the administrative dismissal to be unsatisfactory.

The appeal was dismissed with fixed costs to the respondents.