The Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) has stayed a complaint under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) alleging workplace reprisal, ruling that a parallel Human Rights Code application provides a more complete forum to address the dispute.
The case involves A.S.R., a temporary worker employed by UPA System One Canada Inc. and assigned to Alstom Transport Canada Inc.’s Ottawa location.
A.S.R. filed a non-sexual workplace harassment complaint against a co-worker, which Alstom investigated. He was later terminated by System One and alleged the termination was an act of reprisal for filing the harassment complaint.
A.S.R. filed an OHSA reprisal application with the OLRB and, months later, a separate application with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) alleging discrimination based on race and disability, failure to accommodate his disability, and reprisal under the Code.
Alstom and System One sought to have the OHSA complaint dismissed or stayed, arguing that the HRTO was the better forum since it had jurisdiction over additional claims. The Board agreed to stay the OHSA application, citing the potential for inconsistent factual and legal findings if both cases proceeded simultaneously.
“The focus of the Board’s inquiry will almost never be upon the underlying allegations of harassment,” the decision stated. “The only inquiry the Board will make into the underlying allegations of harassment is whether the employer terminated, or otherwise penalized, the worker for having filed the harassment complaint.”
Although the OLRB determined that the HRTO would provide a more “complete” resolution, it stopped short of dismissing the OHSA application outright. Instead, the Board stayed the case pending the final determination of the HRTO matter. If no party moves to revive the OHSA complaint within 60 days of the HRTO ruling, it will be deemed abandoned.
For more information, see Akaljot Singh Randhawa v Alstom Transport Canada Inc., 2024 CanLII 138131 (ON LRB).
