Alberta Court Confirms Strict Screening Approach To Human Rights Complaints

The Alberta Court of King’s Bench in Haynes v. Alberta (Human Rights Commission and Tribunal), 2026 ABKB 575 (“Haynes”), recently reinforced two important principles in employment and human rights law: limitation periods matter, and unionized employees should pursue human rights complaints through the grievance process.

At the same time, the Court recognized that a complainant’s reliance on the human rights process may limit the Alberta Human Rights Commission's ability to later dismiss a complaint in favour of the grievance process. Where the Commission has proceeded on the basis of concurrent jurisdiction, it may be unreasonable to do so if the complainant has relied on that approach and the opportunity to pursue another remedy has passed.