Veronica Low v. Ontario Teachers Federation, 1997 CanLII 15554

Ontario Labour Relations Board

[1997] OLRB REP. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1041

File No.: 2871-97-U Veronica Low, Applicant v. Ontario Teachers Federation, Responding Party

BEFORE: Bram Herlich, Vice-Chair.

DECISION OF THE BOARD; November 5, 1997

1The Board is in receipt of an application filed pursuant to section 100 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the "Act"). Although the information included in the application is somewhat sparse, it clearly pertains to the current action of Ontario teachers.

2For the benefit of the applicant, it may be useful to explain that the Board is an independent quasi-judicial tribunal that exercises responsibilities under the Ontario Labour Relations Act, 1995 and other labour legislation. Under its governing statutes, the Board is "court-like" in its processes: it typically makes determinations with respect to the rights of parties, after a hearing in which those parties are entitled to make representations on the factual or legal matters in dispute. The hearings are public, and are conducted in accordance with "rules" specified in the governing legislation or the Statutory Powers Procedure Act.

3Where it is alleged that an individual or organization has acted unlawfully (i.e. contrary to the provisions of a particular statute), it is incumbent upon the complainant to set out the facts or behaviour upon which the complaint is based, and to clearly identify the individuals or parties who have allegedly acted improperly. The dispute also has to be situated in its statutory or legal context -just like any other piece of litigation, where one party is asserting that his/her legal rights have been breached by the actions of someone else.

4The Board's procedures are not as formal as those of a Court, nor are parties required to be represented by lawyers. Nevertheless, because legal rights (and remedies) are in issue, it not unusual for parties to be represented by counsel. And before launching a hearing into the matter, it is important that interested parties (as well as parties against whom direct allegations are made) be given notice of the application and an opportunity to respond prior to the hearing.

5In other words, unlike some tribunals, the Board does not undertake its own investigation. It adjudicates disputes which are brought before it by interested parties who have carriage of their own case. The Board then makes a determination after hearing what the other parties have to say.

6The applicant may also wish to review the Board's Rules of Procedure. For example, the following Rules are relevant to applications of this kind:

12. Any application filed with the Board must include the following details:

(a) the full name, address, telephone number and facsimile number (if any) of the applicant, of a contact person for the applicant, of the responding party and of any other person who may be affected by the application;

(b) the sections of the Act that relate to the application, including the sections of the Act that are claimed to have been violated, if any;

(c) a detailed description of the orders or remedies requested; and

(d) a detailed statement of all the material facts on which the applicant relies, including the circumstances, what happened, when and where it happened, and the names of any persons said to have acted improperly.

16. Where a party in a case intends to allege improper conduct by any person, he or she must do so promptly after finding out about the alleged improper conduct and provide a detailed statement of all material facts relied upon, including the circumstances, what happened, and when and where it happened, and the names of any persons said to have acted improperly.

17. An application or response may not be processed if it does not comply with these Rules.

18. The Board may decide an application without further notice to anyone who has not filed a document in the way required by these Rules.

19. No person will be allowed to present evidence or make any representations at any hearing about any material fact relied upon which the Board considers was not set out in the application or response and filed promptly in the way required by these Rules, except with the permission of the Board. If the Board gives such permission, it may do so on such terms as it considers advisable.

20. The Board may also require a person to provide any further information, document or thing that the Board considers may be relevant to a case.

21. Where the Board considers that an application does not make out a case for the orders or remedies requested, even if all the facts stated in the application are assumed to be true, the Board may dismiss the application without a hearing. In its decision, the Board will set out its reasons. The applicant may within twelve (12) days after being sent that decision request that the Board review its decision.

7The purpose of these Rules is (at least in part) to identify the factual and legal issues in dispute prior to any formal hearing in the matter. Litigation is a time-consuming and expensive process for the parties and the public, so it is important to identify the dimensions of the dispute prior to the hearing.

8There are several popular misconceptions about the role and function of this Board. Perhaps chief among them is the view that this Board has and exercises some form of plenary or all-encompassing jurisdiction to intervene and resolve all manner of disputes capable of being characterized as labour relations matters. This, of course, is not the case. This Board has and exercises only those powers conferred on it by the Legislature. The Board's power to do anything must be grounded in statute.

9For this reason, applicants to this Board are well advised to consult and review the relevant statutory material pertaining to their intended applications.

10For example, while this Board's very existence, jurisdiction and authority are grounded primarily in the Labour Relations Act, 1995, section 3(f) of the Act provides that the Act does not apply to "a teacher as defined in the School Boards and Teachers Collective Negotiations Act [often referred to as "Bill 100"] except as provided in that Act".

11Thus, generally speaking the Labour Relations Act, 1995 does not apply to matters pertaining to teachers.

12The applicant may, however, wish to review the provisions of the Bill 100. It is likely that she intends to be relying on the provisions of that Act including (but not necessarily limited to) section 67(1) which provides:

67.-(1) Where the Federation, an affiliate or a branch affiliate calls or authorizes a strike or teachers take part in a strike against a board that the board, a member association, the Council or any person normally resident within the jurisdiction of the board alleges is unlawful, the board, member association, Council or person may apply to the Ontario Labour Relations Board for a declaration that the strike is unlawful, and the Board may make the declaration.

13By performing a careful review of the relevant statutory provisions as well as the Board's Rules of Procedure, an applicant before this Board will be equipped to know what needs to be pleaded, what needs to be proved in order to succeed in an application, the statutory basis of the application and the Board's authority as well as the nature of the remedy or relief available should the application succeed.

14I note that, again assuming the applicant is intending to rely on the above quoted section of Bill 100, there is nothing in the application to identify a "board" (within the meaning of section 1(1) of Bill 100).

15In addition to the board which may be involved, there may well be other parties (including for example, affiliates or branch affiliates within the meaning of section 1 of Bill 100) who may be affected and therefore entitled to notice of these proceedings.

16The applicant appears to be seeking "province-wide" relief in the form, as she has put it, of "the re-opening of all schools across the Province of Ontario". I would merely note that such a request may well be difficult to reconcile with the standing the applicant has to bring the present application.

17The Board is not prepared, on the basis of the application as currently filed, to expedite a hearing in this matter. Indeed, until certain deficiencies in the application are cured, the Board will not process it further.

18The applicant is directed to:

(1) set out her detailed pleadings in conformity with Rule 12 set out above;

(2) to identify the names, address and telephone number and facsimile number (if any) of any other person(s) who may be affected by the application including the name of a board (within the meaning of Bill 100) affected by the application.

(3) to the extent that she wishes to renew her request that the hearing in this matter be expedited, the applicant must serve copies of the application (including her further particulars), and a blank copy of the response form on all affected parties.

19The responding party is relieved from its obligation to file a response until such time as the applicant has complied with the Board's directions.