PAY EQUITY HEARINGS TRIBUNAL
0736-02 Pioneer Youth Services o/a PYS Associates Ltd. Applicant v. Canadian National Federation of Independent Unions, John Baird, Ministry of Community and Social Services, Irene Mitchell, Sylvia Groh, Torsten Huhse, Laura MacNicol Adam, Lynda Nydam, Diane Gartner, Tanya Haggerty, Mark Williams, Christa Streicher, Chuck DaSilva, Jennifer DiPaolo, Patti Rocco, Amber Collins, Lisa Henderson, Glory To, Cheri Chowan, Cosimo Pazzano, Michelle Crozier, Kelly Stewart, Fiona Toso, Respondents
Before: Mary Ellen Cummings, Chair and Members Margaret Kvetan and Pauline R. Seville
Cite as: Pioneer Youth Services o/a PYS Associates Ltd (No. 2) (November 8, 2002) 0736-02 (P.E.H.T.))
DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL, NOVEMBER 8, 2002
Pioneer Youth Services, operated by PYS Associates Ltd., (“the Applicant” or “the Employer”) applied to the Tribunal with respect to an Order of a Review Officer dated January 17, 2002. By decision dated September 13, 2002, the Tribunal set out its concerns that the Application did not disclose a prima facie or arguable breach of the Pay Equity Act R.S.O. 1990, c. P-7 (the Act) or plead a prima facie case for the remedies sought. After setting out its concerns in some detail, the Tribunal summarized at paragraphs 22 and 23 what the Applicant was required to do:
The Applicant is directed to serve on the other parties and file with the Tribunal any further submissions it wishes to make in support of its request that the gender incumbency of the Educational Assistant job class, as determined in 1992 should be altered. If the Tribunal is not satisfied that the further submissions establish that a prima facie case has been made out, that part of the Application will be dismissed. The Applicant is an employer in the public sector, having regard to the information contained in the Application. No further inquiry is required.
The Applicant is directed to serve on the other parties and file with the Tribunal any further submissions it wishes to make in support of its request that the Ministry of Community and Social Services be required to fund the Applicant’s pay equity liabilities or be made to purchase its business and why the Tribunal should deal with the matter even though it appears not to have been canvassed at Review Services. If the Tribunal is not satisfied that the further submissions establish that a prima facie case has been made out, that part of the Application will be dismissed.
The Tribunal directed the Applicant to serve and file its further submissions by October 11, 2002. The Applicant made no further submissions by that deadline. In a telephone conversation with the Tribunal’s Deputy Registrar, the Applicant’s representative advised that it would not be making any further submissions. The Deputy Registrar confirmed that advice to all parties in a letter dated October 17, 2002, indicating that the panel would make its decision on the basis of the material already filed.
Having regard to the submissions and pleadings, the Tribunal concludes that the Applicant has not pleaded a prima facie or arguable case that the 1992 determination concluding the Educational Assistant is a gender neutral job class was unreasonable at the time it was made. Similarly, the Tribunal concludes that the Applicant has not pleaded a prima facie case for the remedy that the Ministry of Community and Social Services be required to fund the Applicant’s pay equity liabilities or to purchase its business.
In the September 13, 2002 decision, the Tribunal dismissed the Applicant’s request that the Ministry of Labour be required to prove that the Act was intended to include the Applicant in the definition of an employer in the “public sector”. There is no dispute that the Applicant meets that definition, and consequently, is required to comply with the proxy provisions of the Act.
Since the Applicant has not pleaded a prima facie or arguable case on any of the issues raised in its Application, the Application is hereby dismissed. The Order of the Review Officer dated January 17, 2002 is confirmed.
Dated at Toronto this 8th day of November, 2002
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Mary Ellen Cummings, Chair
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Margaret Kvetan, Member
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Pauline R. Seville, Member