2162-10-PE Adeptron Technologies Corporation, Applicant v. Longina Frydrych, Responding Party.
BEFORE: Caroline Rowan, Vice-Chair, Paul LeMay and Pauline R. Seville, Members.
DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL: April 28, 2011
By decision dated April 15, 2011 (the “Decision”), the Tribunal directed the Applicant, Adeptron Technologies Corporation (the “Employer”), within fifteen (15) calendar days of receipt of the Decision, to post a copy of the enclosed Notice to Employees, its Application and this Decision in the workplace in such location(s) where they are likely to come to the attention of any affected employees presently employed by the Employer. The Employer was further directed to mail a copy of the enclosed Notice to Employees to the last known address of each of the affected employees who are no longer employed by the Employer. Past and present employees of the Employer who may be affected by the outcome of the Employer’s application were referred to in this Decision as the “affected employees”.
By correspondence dated April 25, 2011, the Employer requested that the Tribunal amend that direction on the basis that it imposes a significant burden on the Employer. In this regard, the Employer notes that its computerized payroll system only maintains addresses for two years after which the electronic information is purged and as such it only has addresses on its computerized system for 128 of the 524 former employees. The Employer notes that, in order to provide the required notice to the remaining 400 former employees, it will have to manually search physical employee files which are kept in off-site storage or perform a manual search on PDF files that contain the T4s of these employees. Given the time and resources required to comply with the Tribunal’s direction, the Employer requests that paragraph 4 of the Decision be amended such that the Employer must only mail a copy of the Notice to Employees to the last known address of each of the affected employees who are no longer employed by the Employer and whose address is currently in the Employer’s computerized system.
Having considered the Employer’s request that its direction be amended such that only 128 of the 524 former employees will be entitled to receive notice, the Tribunal declines to make the proposed amendment. The parties to proceedings before the Tribunal are defined in section 32(1) of the Act as, inter alia, “… the employees to whom the plan relates…” and “…persons entitled by law to be parties”. The affected employees are employees to whom the pay equity plan in issue relates. They also stand to be directly and substantially affected by the outcome of the proceedings such that they are entitled by law to be a party.
In order for the affected employees to be bound by the outcome of this proceeding, natural justice requires that they be notified of the proceeding. If an affected employee is not notified of the proceeding, which will take place in order to determine, among other things, the outcome of the Applicant’s position that Adeptron is not a successor to Prestec Electronics Limited (“Prestec”) for the purposes of the sale of business provisions contained in section 13.1 of Part II of the Act, he or she may not be bound by the outcome. Such a result does not serve the interests of either the Applicant or the Tribunal. As such, the Applicant’s request that it not be required to provide notice to those affected employees whose addresses are not contained on its computerized system is denied.
However, when the Tribunal made its Direction it was unaware of the number of affected employees or the state of the Applicant’s records. Having regard to the number of Notices that the Applicant is required to mail, and the fact that 400 of the addresses will have to be manually located, the Tribunal finds it appropriate to amend paragraph 4 of the Decision by extending the timeline from 15 calendar days to 60 calendar days from the date of this decision. Paragraph 4 of the Decision is therefore amended to read as follows:
As a result, the Employer is hereby directed, within sixty (60) calendar days of April 28, 2011, to post a copy of the enclosed Notice to Employees, its Application and this Decision in the workplace in such location(s) where they are likely to come to the attention of any affected employees presently employed by the Employer. The Employer is further directed to mail a copy of the enclosed Notice to Employees to the last known address of each of the affected employees who are no longer employed by the Employer. The Employer is directed to advise the Tribunal in writing once the posting and mailing of the Notice to Employees has been completed.
The deadline set out in the Notice to Employees is accordingly also hereby amended to July 18, 2011. An Amended Notice to Employees is therefore enclosed. All references in the Tribunal’s Decision to the Notice to Employees should therefore now be read as referring to the enclosed Amended Notice to Employees.
“Caroline Rowan”
Caroline Rowan, Vice-Chair
“Paul LeMay”
Paul LeMay, Member
“Pauline R. Seville”
Pauline R. Seville, Member
Tribunal de l’équité
salariale
505, avenue University Toronto, ON M5G 2P1 Tél: (416) 326-7500 Téléscripteur: (416) 212-7036 Téléc: (416) 326-7531 Sans frais 1-877-339-3335
505 University Avenue Toronto, ON M5G 2P1 Tel: (416) 326-7500 TTY: (416) 212-7036 Fax: (416) 326-7531 Toll-Free 1-877-339-3335
Pay Equity Hearings
Tribunal
File No. / Numéro de dossier : 2162-10-PE
AMENDED NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO EMPLOYEES OF ADEPTRON TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
An Application for Hearing has been filed by Adeptron on October 4, 2010 in which it objects to an order made by a Review Officer dated December 13, 2006 and an order made by a Review Officer dated August 5, 2010 (the “Orders”). The application has been assigned PEHT File No. 2162-10-PE.
You may be affected by the outcome of this application and as such you may have the right to participate.
The Tribunal has directed Adeptron Technologies Corporation to post a copy of the Application (Form 1), the Decision of the Tribunal dated April 15, 2011 and this Amended Notice to Employees in the workplace in location(s) where they are most likely to come to the attention of employees. If you obtained a copy of this Amended Notice to Employees and do not have a copy of the Application or the Tribunal’s Decision, you can obtain one by calling the Tribunal at (416) 326-7500.
In the event that this matter proceeds to a hearing, to participate as an individual or as a group, you must have completed the following steps:
Complete a Response (Form 2) explaining your position. The Tribunal's Rules and Information Bulletins will help you to understand what information you need to provide in your Response. The Response form is available from the Tribunal’s website under Forms & Rules - Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal (http://www.olrb.gov.on.ca/pec/peht/peht_forms.html). The Tribunal’s website also provides guidelines as to how to proceed and remain anonymous: http://www.olrb.gov.on.ca/pec/peht/info/peht_info03.html.
Serve your completed Response (Form 2) on the parties listed on the Schedule “A” attached to this Notice to Employees. Then complete a Statement of Service (Form 3) explaining how and when you delivered the Response form.
File a copy of your Response (Form 2) and the Statement of Service (Form 3) with the Tribunal by Monday, July 18, 2011.
The Tribunal will determine how best to proceed with this application once all of the Responses and any Replies have been served and filed.
If you do not file a Response with the Tribunal by Monday, July 18, 2011, the Tribunal may proceed with this application without any further notice to you.
Caroline Rowan Vice-Chair, Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal
SCHEDULE "A"
Miller Thomson LLP Barristers & Solicitors Scotia Plaza, Suite 5800 40 King Street West, P.O. Box 1011 Toronto, Ontario M5H 3S1 Attention: André Nowakowski Tel. (416)595-2986 eMail: anowakowski@millerthomson.com Fax. (416)595-8695
Adeptron Technologies Corporation 96 Steelcase Road West Markham, Ontario L3R 3J9 Attention: Debbie Lau Human Resources Manager Tel. (905)470-0109 ext. 2236 Fax. (905)513-7254
Ms. Longina Frydrych 2571 Page Road Orleans, Ontario K1W 1E5