Pay Equity Office v Brockville General Hospital
Tribunal File and Parties
PEHT Case No: 2609-14-PE
Pay Equity Office, Applicant v Brockville General Hospital, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 5666, Grace Bennett, Responding Parties
BEFORE: Mary Anne McKellar, Chair
DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL: December 16, 2014
Decision
This is a referral under section 24(5) of the Pay Equity Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.7 as amended (“the Act”).
This is a decision I am permitted to issue pursuant to section 4.2(1) of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act.
The Pay Equity Office (“the Office”) asserts that the responding party employer (“the Hospital”) has not complied with the order of a Review Officer. The question of compliance is the only issue before the Tribunal on such application (see section 24(5.2)) of the Act. The Hospital bears the onus of satisfying the Tribunal it has complied.
The Hospital’s response was due on December 12, 2014. No response was filed. Late in the afternoon of December 15, 2014, the Registrar of the Tribunal received the Hospital’s written request that the time for filing its response be extended to December 19, 2014. No reason was advanced for why the Hospital was unable to meet the December 12, 2014 deadline.
I have several observations. First, the request for an extension ought to have been made before the deadline had already expired. Second, it should have been supported by an explanation for why the extension was necessary. Third, it is hard to understand why an extended period of time would be required to respond to a referral such as this one, which will either consist of an admission of non-compliance or an assertion that compliance has occurred, with the steps undertaken particularized.
Notwithstanding my observations above, because the extension sought is a relatively short one, and because the consequences to the Hospital of not granting it are that it will not be able to satisfy the statutory onus and this application against it will necessarily succeed, I am prepared to extend the time for filing the response in this matter until the close of business on December 19, 2014.
Should the Hospital fail to file its response in a timely way pursuant to this decision, it will be deemed to have conceded that it did not comply with the Review Officer’s order.
Dated at Toronto, Ontario this 16th day of December, 2014.
“Mary Anne McKellar”
Chair