Ontario Labour Relations Board
Parties: Ontario Public Service Employees Union, Applicant v. Monteith Correctional Complex and Ministry of Labour, Responding Parties.
Before: M. A. Nairn, Vice-Chair
Decision of the Board: January 10, 2000
Decision
By application received on December 15, 1999 the applicant has filed an appeal of Field Visit report apparently numbered 869030. An inspector attended the workplace on December 1, 1999 to investigate an alleged work refusal. The workplace is the Monteith Correctional Complex, a minimum-security facility. That appeal has been assigned Board File No. 2843-99-HS. On December 7, 1999, the applicant filed a request to suspend the inspector’s order and made submissions in that regard. That application has been assigned Board File No. 2844-99-HS. Submissions in that regard have now been received from the Ministry of Labour on behalf of the inspector. No submissions were received from the employer. This decision deals only with the request to suspend the inspector’s order.
Some background is perhaps in order. The appeal centres on the employer’s decision to increase the number and apparently change the nature of night shift patrols within the inmate living area. The applicant asserts, essentially, that these changes unreasonably increase the risk to correctional officers. This change in employer policy was apparently implemented on or about December 1, 1999. An inspector attended as noted on December 1, 1999 in response to an alleged work refusal in connection with these increased patrols.
However the inspector made no order. Having reviewed the submissions and the provisions of the OHSA, and assuming, specifically without finding, that the refusal to make an order is subject to section 61(7) of the OHSA, I am not persuaded that the remedial relief sought in these circumstances can properly be obtained through a request for a suspension of the order. Therefore the request to suspend the order brought pursuant to section 61(7) (Board File No. 2844-99-HS) is hereby dismissed without prejudice to any right the applicant may have under a collective agreement or the OHSA to bring any other timely application.
Board File No. 2843-99-HS is hereby referred to the Registrar to list for hearing. This panel is not seized.
“M. A. Nairn”
for the Board