Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal
PEHT Case No: 0689-15-PE
Pay Equity Office, Applicant v 1798657 Ontario Inc. and 1798658 Ontario Inc. carrying on business as Rocco's Plum Tomato, Respondent
BEFORE: Mary Anne McKellar, Chair
DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL: August 18, 2015
1This is a referral under section 24(5) of the Pay Equity Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.P.7, as amended ("the Act").
2Section 4.2(1) of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act permits a panel of one to decide this matter.
3I issued an earlier decision in this matter dated July 16, 2015. In that decision I noted that the respondents had not filed a Response to the application. I therefore concluded that they had not complied with the Order that is the subject of this referral. I directed them to file submissions setting out why the Tribunal should not simply direct them to comply.
4On July 30, 2015, the respondents filed submissions on a Response form. It is not apparent that this material was delivered to the Pay Equity Office ("the Office") and the respondents are directed to effect such delivery immediately and to advise the Registrar in writing that they have done so.
5In the Response, the respondents: (1) concede that they have not complied with the Order; (2) state their intention to comply with it; and (3) seek to have 6 weeks in which to do so. Notwithstanding the foregoing, other statements in the Response suggest that the respondents are taking exception to the Order, however this appears to be premised on a misunderstanding of the requirements of the Act, which the respondents seem to think is confined to obliging them to pay equal wages to men and women who perform the same work. They have not, however, filed an application objecting to the Order.
6In any event, having regard to the three positions that the respondents have taken as outlined in the preceding paragraph, and having regard to the fact that the timeframe they have proposed for compliance is shorter than that stipulated in the Order, and therefore presumably acceptable to the Office, I make the following directions, with respect to the six specific sets of directions contained in paragraph 20 (1 to 5) of the Order:
a. The respondents are directed to comply with the procedural directions set out in paragraph 20(1) of the Order by no later than August 27, 2015; and
b. The respondents are directed to comply with the balance of the directions (set out in paragraph 20 (2 to 6 inclusive) of the Order, which are substantive in nature, such that all have been completed by no later than September 30, 2015, which is six weeks from the date of this decision (and approximately nine weeks from the filing of the Response in this matter).
Dated at Toronto, Ontario this 18th day of August, 2015.
"Mary Anne McKellar" __ Mary Anne McKellar, Chair