3085-99-ES Stephen Hallman, Applicant v. Dennis Murphy Pontiac Buick GMC Ltd., and Ministry of Labour, Responding Parties.
BEFORE: Marilyn Silverman, Vice-Chair.
DECISION OF THE BOARD; February 18, 2000
This is an employee appeal of a decision of an Employment Standards Officer dated November 12, 1999. This application is made pursuant to section 68 of the Employment Standards Act (the “Act”).
The application for review was received by the Board on January 18, 2000. Pursuant to section 68 of the Act an application for review must be made within 45 days after the date of the refusal of the claim. In this case the 45th day was December 27, 1999. The Act provides that the Board may extend the time for applying for a review if it considers it appropriate to do so.
After being notified by the Registrar by letter dated February 10, 2000 that the application had not been filed in a timely manner, the applicant requested an extension of time by letter dated February 14, 2000. The reason for the request is that the applicant was not aware of the 45 day time limit referred to in the Officer’s letter advising of the refusal to issue an order. The reason the applicant was not aware of the time limit is that he threw the letter in the garbage because the Employment Standards Officer had orally advised him of the refusal and so he did not feel the need to open the letter from the Ministry of Labour. The applicant states that he subsequently learned of the review option from a friend at the Ministry of Labour.
In these circumstances I do not feel that this is an appropriate case to exercise my discretion to extend the time for filing of the application. The applicant had all the proper and necessary information provided to him to allow him to apply within the time contemplated by the statute. He chose not to make use of that information by simply throwing away the letter from the Ministry of Labour without looking at it. That is not an appropriate reason in my view for granting an extension of time.
The application is therefore dismissed.
“Marilyn Silverman”
for the Board