Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal
PEHT Case No: 0062-20-PE
Joan Mills, Applicant v City of Hamilton, and The Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc., Respondents
Before: M. David Ross, Chair
Decision of the Tribunal: July 9, 2020
Decision
[1]. This is an application under the Pay Equity Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.P.7, as amended (“the Act”). This application was filed on April 14, 2020.
[2]. Section 4.2(1) of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act, R.S.O. 1990, permits a panel of one to determine this issue.
[3]. On April 15, 2020, I issued a decision that suspended the timelines for filing a response because one of the responding parties did not appear to be operating on the face of the application, and the Tribunal had no method to deliver the Confirmation of Filing. The responding party, the City of Hamilton (“the City), filed its response on its own initiative on July 7, 2020. In its response, the City confirmed that the other responding party, The Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc., was a wholly owned subsidiary and has not operated for many years. As such, the Tribunal is prepared to proceed with this application based on the application and the response that have been filed.
[4]. In accordance with Ontario Regulation 73/20 enacted under Section 7.12 of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, the Tribunal is exercising its discretion so that the timelines set out in the Tribunal’s Rules of Practice and the Act continue to apply to this proceeding.
[5]. In the response, the City has requested that the Tribunal dismiss this application on a preliminary basis because it is untimely and amounts to an abuse of process as set out in the Tribunal’s jurisprudence; and because a full and final release signed by the applicant bars this application. Furthermore, the City takes the position that the application raises issues that were not before Review Services and the Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to consider those issues that were not considered by Review Services.
[6]. The applicant shall have until no later than July 28, 2020 to file with Tribunal, and provide a copy to the City, any submissions that she would like the Tribunal to consider with regards to the following issues:
a) Should this application be dismissed because it constitutes an abuse of process based on delay?
b) The impact of the signed Minutes of Settlement on the applicant’s ability to bring this application before the Tribunal; and
c) Whether the Tribunal can assume jurisdiction over issues that were not raised with Review Services.
[7]. A panel of this Tribunal will consider any submissions received in due course. If no submissions are filed by the July 28, 2020 deadline, decisions regarding the responding party’s requests may be decided without further notice to the applicant and may result in the dismissal of this application. The City is directed to file nothing further unless directed to by the Tribunal at a later date.
Dated at Toronto, Ontario this 9th day of July, 2020.
“M. David Ross” .
M. David Ross, Chair