Ryan White

The applicant employer sought judicial review of an interlocutory decision by the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

The Board had declined to consider the employer's late-filed notice under s. 8.1 of the Labour Relations Act challenging the union's estimate of the proposed bargaining unit size.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application for judicial review on the basis of prematurity, finding no exceptional circumstances to justify interfering with the ongoing administrative certification process.

The applicant union sought judicial review of Ontario Labour Relations Board decisions finding that it had abandoned its bargaining rights for certain construction employees, thereby allowing a rival union's certification application to proceed.

The applicant argued the Board unreasonably departed from precedent by failing to focus on the union's intention to abandon its rights and by ignoring its 2021 negotiating efforts.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, holding that the Board reasonably applied established principles, properly assessed the objective evidence of the applicant's prolonged inactivity, and correctly concluded that the bargaining rights had been abandoned by 2020 and could not be revived by subsequent conduct.