HRTO Confirms It Has Concurrent Jurisdiction With Labour Arbitrators

This month, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario released a decision in Weilgosh v. London District Catholic School Board, 2022 HRTO 1194 confirming the approach of the Tribunal that that it has concurrent jurisdiction with labour arbitrators over human rights claims by unionized employees.

In Weilgosh, the Tribunal held a preliminary hearing regarding two applications in order to decide whether allegations of a breach of the Human Rights Code in a unionized workplace fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of a labour arbitrator.

In 2021 the Supreme Court of Canada, in Northern Regional Health Authority v. Horrocks, 2021 SCC 42, found that Manitoba's human rights legislation does not grant concurrent jurisdiction to human rights adjudicators and labour arbitrators with respect to matters engaging the human rights of unionized employees. The Supreme Court held that, in accordance with Manitoba's statutory regime, labour arbitrators had exclusive jurisdiction