Ontario Labour Relations Board
File No.: 0595-01-ES Employment Practices File: 42003570 Date: May 25, 2001
Daniel Jones, Applicant v. Honda of Canada Mfg. and Ministry of Labour, Responding Parties.
Before: M. A. Nairn, Vice-Chair
Decision of the Board
1This is an application brought pursuant to section 68 of the Employment Standards Act (the “ESA”) seeking to challenge the refusal of the Employment Standards Officer to issue an Order.
2The letter from the Officer advising the claimant that no Order is being made is dated October 24, 2000. The statutory deadline for filing an application for review is 45 days from the date of that letter, or, in this case, December 8, 2000. The application was filed with the Board on May 18, 2001.
3The applicant seeks an extension to the time for filing his application on the basis of certain personal reasons. Unfortunately, while I may sympathize with the applicant’s situation, those reasons do not support a finding that there are reasonable grounds to extend the time limits in this case. The application is over five months late in circumstances where the legislation requires the application to be filed in a timely way. That statutory limit creates an expectation that applicants be diligent in pursuing any appeal. The ESA only provides the Board with jurisdiction to extend those time limits where there are appropriate grounds for doing so. The length of time that has passed beyond the deadline is simply too significant in this case.
4I note that the applicant appears to have an outstanding complaint before the Human Rights Commission. The issues raised by the appeal are, at their core, issues of accommodation of a disability. That matter is the primary jurisdiction of the Commission.
5Having regard to the above, I am not persuaded that there are appropriate grounds on which to extend the time for filing this application. In accordance with section 68 of the ESA the application is untimely. It is therefore dismissed.
“M. A. Nairn”
for the Board