Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal
PEHT Case No: 0165-21-PE
Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, District 17, Applicant v Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, Respondent
BEFORE: M. David Ross, Chair
DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL: October 28, 2021
This is an application under the Pay Equity Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.P.7 as amended ("the Act").
The parties have consented to this application proceeding before a single presiding officer or deputy presiding officer.
The respondent has requested this application to be dismissed without a hearing. The respondent submitted that the Tribunal does not have the authority to revoke an order of a Review Officer, and in the alternative, the remedies requested are those that have been sought in previous applications before the Tribunal.
By decision dated June 30, 2021, the Tribunal requested a response from the applicant with respect to this request. Those submissions were filed in accordance with the Tribunal's direction.
The Tribunal has considered the submissions. The Tribunal will not dismiss this application without a hearing.
The first issue is that the Act explicitly requires a hearing to be held pursuant to section 25(1) of the Act:
25 (1) The Hearings Tribunal shall hold a hearing,
(a) if a review officer is unable to effect a settlement of a complaint and has not made an order under subsection 24 (3);
(b) if a request for a hearing, as described in subsection 23 (4) or 24 (6), is received by the Hearings Tribunal; or
(c) if a review officer refers a matter to the Hearings Tribunal under subsection 24 (5). R.S.O. 1990,
The Tribunal has the authority to hold these hearings in writing where appropriate, but it does not have the authority not to hold a hearing on the facts of this case.
The second issue is that fact that the applicant has requested these remedies in previous applications is not a bar to this application. Nor is it a de facto request to reconsider the previous decision. This application is a review of a Review Officer's Order that has not been before the Tribunal, and as set out above, there is no apparent jurisdiction of the Tribunal not to hear the application.
Nothing in this decision is to be taken as commentary about the strengths of any parties' position on the merits. Only that it will not be dismissed without a hearing.
Accordingly, this matter is directed to the Registrar to be set down for a Pre-Hearing Conference.
"M. David Ross"____
M. David Ross, Chair