Ontario Labour Relations Board
0036-00-ES Mark Lockwood, A Director of 1100108 Ontario Ltd. o/a Casino Country, Applicant v. Doina Cambrea et al and Ministry of Labour, Responding Parties.
Employment Practices Branch No.: 34 000801
BEFORE: Gail Misra, Vice-Chair.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; June 13, 2000
1This is a Director’s appeal of Order to Pay No. D 04621. It is made pursuant to section 68 of the Employment Standards Act (the “Act”).
2The Order issued on February 1, 2000. This application was filed with the Board on April 4, 2000. Pursuant to section 68(3) of the Act an application for review must be made within 45 days of the issuance of the order. In this instance the 45th day was on March 17, 2000 and the application is therefore on its face untimely.
3The applicant has indicated that he believed he had made a timely application but in the alternative has requested that he be granted an extension.
4This appears to be an unusual case. The Order to Pay is dated February 1, 2000. However, the Employment Standards Officer of the Ministry of Labour did not send the Order to Mr. Lockwood until February 23, 2000. It is hardly surprising in these circumstances that Mr. Lockwood believed he had filed a timely application as he counted the 45 days from the date of the letter.
5While section 68(3) of the Act defines the time as running from the date of the order, section 68(4) grants the Board the discretion to extend the time for filing if the Board considers it appropriate to do so. This is precisely the type of case in which the Board should exercise its discretion to extend the time for filing an application as the applicant did not receive the Order to Pay until about three weeks after it was issued. The 45th day after February 23rd would be on April 8, 2000. In that case the application would be timely as it was filed on April 4, 2000. The applicant filed what he believed on reasonable grounds to be a timely application, and he paid the required money into trust.
6In the circumstances of this case the Board exercises its discretion to extend the time for filing to April 4, 2000.
“Gail Misra”
for the Board