Docket: T-760-14
Citation:
2014 FC 1136
Ottawa, Ontario, November 26, 2014
PRESENT: The
Honourable Mr. Justice Mosley
BETWEEN:
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TRAVIS LAHNALAMPI, GILDA MARINUCCI, BEV MCCARTHY, AMBER MORDEN, JOYCELYN
MYINT-SWE, JAY RAIKUNDALIA, ELIZABETH RAY, CLEOPATRA REID, CRAIG RUSSELL,
HARMINDER SAHOTA, ANTONELLA SCIACCA, BRIAN SHIN, SCOTT STANLEY, BEATA
SYROPIATKO, MARY VISCO, SUZANNE WALTERS, TRACEY WATTERS, SHARON ALI, ENID
AWUKU, LATRICIA BEESTON, BARBARA BUDGELL, GENNARO CANALE-PAROLA, KATHY
COOPER, AMABEL COURT, ROGER DESCOTES, OMAR FAIRCLOUGH, BRUCE FLANNIGAN MEGAN
GAGNON-FITZGERALD, ROBERT GRAHAM, SIMONE HERCULES, JULIAN JEGANATHAN, DIANE
JOHNSON, DAVID JONES, and CLINT JAMES
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Applicants
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and
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THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA
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Respondent
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JUDGMENT AND REASONS
[1]
Thirty-four employees (the grievors) who filed
grievances against the Treasury Board (the employer) have brought an
application for judicial review pursuant to sections 18 and 18.1 of the Federal
Courts Act, RSC 1985, c F-7. The grievors challenge a decision of a Public
Service Labour Relations Board adjudicator which dismissed their grievances.
They allege that the adjudicator breached the principles of procedural fairness
in rendering this decision.
[2]
For the reasons that follow, I grant the
application for judicial review. The matter will be returned to the Board to be
decided by a different adjudicator.
I.
Background
[3]
During the relevant time period, the grievors
were employed at the Employment Insurance (EI) Call Centre of the Department of
Human Resources and Skills Development located in Toronto. This department has
since been renamed the Department of Employment and Social Development.
[4]
The grievors allege that the employer violated
the collective agreement between itself and the Public Service Alliance of
Canada in respect of the Program and Administrative Services Group bargaining
unit. This collective agreement expired on June 20, 2007.
[5]
The grievors’ allegations relate to clause
28.05(a) of the collective agreement, which reads as follows:
Subject to the operational requirements, the
Employer shall make every reasonable effort to avoid excessive overtime and to
offer overtime work on an equitable basis among readily available qualified
employees.
[6]
The French version of clause 28.05(a) states:
Sous réserve des nécessités du service,
l’Employeur s’efforce autant que possible de ne pas prescrire un nombre
excessif d’heures supplémentaires et d’offrir le travail supplémentaire de
façon équitable entre les employé-e-s qualifiés qui sont facilement
disponibles.
[7]
In 2007, fifteen call centres across Canada handled the public’s requests for assistance with the EI program, the Canada Pension
Plan and the Canada Student Loans program. Not every call centre dealt with all
three programs. For EI enquiries, members of the public could call one of two
1-800 numbers to speak with an agent in the official language of their choice.
The call centres were open for business from Monday to Friday.
[8]
Management decided to run a pilot project from January
to June 2007, in which it would open a few call centres on Saturdays in an
attempt to even out the workload and improve service to the public. Management
decided that the call centres in Sudbury and Montreal would participate in this
project. For employees working there, Saturday work would count as overtime
compensated at premium rates. January 20, 2007 was the first Saturday involved
in this plan.
[9]
The grievors sought the opportunity to work
overtime on Saturdays. However, management refused to include the Toronto call centre in the pilot project. On March 9, 2007, the employer provided first
level responses rejecting the grievances. On January 21, 2008, the employer
provided final level responses rejecting these same grievances.
[10]
Management was satisfied with the results from
opening the Sudbury and Montreal call centres on Saturdays. It therefore
decided to also open other call centres at later dates during the pilot
project. On March 31, 2007, the Toronto call centre was included.
[11]
When the pilot project ended, the employer
decided to open all EI call centres on Saturdays on a permanent basis. The
employer made Saturday part of its employees’ shift schedules, with the result
that Saturday work no longer attracted premium compensation.
[12]
The grievors had appealed the dismissal of their
grievances to the Public Service Labour Relations Board. An adjudicator heard
the parties in Toronto on December 5, 2013. By decision dated February 21,
2014, the adjudicator dismissed the grievances. This is their application for
judicial review of that decision.
II.
Issues
[13]
This application for judicial review raises two
issues:
1.
Did the adjudicator breach the principles of
procedural fairness?
2.
Should the adjudicator’s decision be upheld even
if he did breach the principles of procedural fairness?
III.
Relevant Legislation
[14]
Sections 6 and 7 of the Public Service Labour
Relations Act, SC 2003, c 22, s 2 [PSLRA] preserve and
entrench the management rights of the Treasury Board.
6. Nothing in this Act is to be construed as affecting the right
or authority of the Treasury Board under paragraph 7(1)(b) of the Financial
Administration Act.
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6. La présente loi
n’a pas pour effet de porter atteinte au droit ou à l’autorité du Conseil du
Trésor conféré par l’alinéa 7(1)b) de la Loi sur la gestion des finances
publiques.
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7. Nothing in this
Act is to be construed as affecting the right or authority of the Treasury
Board or a separate agency to determine the organization of those portions of
the federal public administration for which it represents Her Majesty in
right of Canada as employer or to assign duties to and to classify positions
and persons employed in those portions of the federal public administration.
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7. La présente loi
n’a pas pour effet de porter atteinte au droit ou à l’autorité du Conseil du
Trésor ou d’un organisme distinct quant à l’organisation de tout secteur de
l’administration publique fédérale à l’égard duquel il représente Sa Majesté
du chef du Canada à titre d’employeur, à l’attribution des fonctions aux
postes et aux personnes employées dans un tel secteur et à la classification
de ces postes et personnes.
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[15]
Paragraphs 7(1)(b) and (e) of the Financial
Administration Act, RSC 1985, c F-11 [FAA] establish the Treasury
Board’s powers with respect to the organization of work within the federal
public administration.
7. (1) The Treasury Board may act for the Queen’s Privy Council
for Canada on all matters relating to [...]
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7. (1) Le Conseil du Trésor peut agir au nom du Conseil privé de
la Reine pour le Canada à l’égard des questions suivantes : [...]
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(b) the
organization of the federal public administration or any portion thereof, and
the determination and control of establishments therein;
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b)
l’organisation de l’administration publique fédérale ou de tel de ses
secteurs ainsi que la détermination et le contrôle des établissements qui en
font partie;
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(e) human
resources management in the federal public administration, including the
determination of the terms and conditions of employment of persons employed
in it;
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e) la
gestion des ressources humaines de l’administration publique fédérale,
notamment la détermination des conditions d’emploi;
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[16]
Paragraph 11.1(a) provides the Treasury Board
with additional powers with respect to the management of human resources in the
public service.
11.1 (1) In the exercise of its human resources management
responsibilities under paragraph 7(1)(e), the Treasury Board may
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11.1 (1) Le Conseil du Trésor peut, dans l’exercice des
attributions en matière de gestion des ressources humaines que lui confère
l’alinéa 7(1)e) :
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(a)
determine the human resources requirements of the public service and provide
for the allocation and effective utilization of human resources in the public
service;
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a)
déterminer les effectifs nécessaires à la fonction publique et assurer leur
répartition et leur bonne utilisation;
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IV.
Decision under Review
[17]
On February 21, 2014, adjudicator Michael Bendel
issued Lahnalampi et al v Treasury Board (Department of Employment and
Social Development), 2014 PSLRB 22.
[18]
The adjudicator began by explaining that, at the
outset of the hearing, he had ruled (over the employer’s objection) that
evidence and argument would be limited to the following issue: “Whether Toronto EI Call Centre employees were entitled to be
offered overtime work on the pilot project.” He would proceed on the
assumption that all the grievors were available and qualified to perform the
overtime work. The adjudicator posited that this assumption would reduce delay
in deciding the matter, since it permitted him to avoid calling upon every one
of the grievors to testify about his or her availability and qualification for
the work in question.
[19]
The grievors who provided evidence, Messrs
Travis Lahnalampi and Bruce Flannigan, testified that upon first asking
management why the Toronto employees had not been given the opportunity to work
on Saturdays, they had been told that it would cost $800 to open the Toronto building on Saturdays.
[20]
Ms Line Lacombe Laurin, testifying for the
employer, provided four reasons why the Toronto call centre was not initially
included in the pilot project. (1) The Sudbury and Montreal centres offered
bilingual service, whereas the Toronto centre offered service only in English.
(2) It would be more difficult for employees to gain access to the call centre
in Toronto on Saturdays, as they would have to obtain authorization by
telephoning a manager. In the two other centres, a security guard could grant
them access immediately. (3) The cost of opening the Toronto office would have
been $800 per hour. This is because the Toronto call centre was located in a
large building and it was not possible to provide ventilation, heating and
lighting only to the area occupied by the employer. Ms Lacombe Laurin did not
state the cost of opening the Sudbury or Montreal offices but testified that it
was lower. (4) The employer followed a practice of having at least 10 call
centre agents on duty at any call centre at the same time, since a supervisor
and quality assurance advisor were required to be present when calls were
received. Due to this arrangement, it was impractical to have small numbers of
employees working out of several call centres on Saturdays.
[21]
According to the grievors, the adjudicator bore
the task of determining whether any “operational requirements” invoked by the
employer were reasonable. In their view, cost considerations could not
reasonably affect overtime opportunities. Further, comparison had to be made
both within work units and between them.
[22]
The grievors further submitted that the evidence
did not establish the existence of any operational requirements which would
have relieved the employer of the duty imposed by clause 28.05(a). The employer
brought no evidence about the relative cost of opening the Montreal and Sudbury call centres on Saturdays. There was no valid reason that English language calls
could not have been rerouted to the Toronto call centre, as occurred after
March 31. The employer’s evidence demonstrated a mere preference, as opposed to
an operational requirement, for using only the Sudbury and Montreal employees
at the outset of the pilot project.
[23]
Counsel for the employer submitted that an
employer has the exclusive right to organize the workplace pursuant to the PSLRA
and FAA. The determination of hours of operation falls within the
ambit of that prerogative. These grievances flow from a change to the hours of
operation of the Sudbury and Montreal call centres. The decision to offer
overtime only to the employees in Sudbury and Montreal “was
no more subject to an adjudicator’s review than the decision to open only those
two call centres”: paragraph 24.
[24]
Counsel for the employer further submitted that
comparisons should be drawn between employees within each workplace. The
employer does not shoulder the cumbersome obligation of offering identical overtime
opportunities to employees at different workplaces across the country. The
employer was justified in limiting Saturday hours to the Sudbury and Montreal call centres in view of the factors explained by Ms Lacombe Laurin.
[25]
The adjudicator stated that he was not satisfied
that operational requirements required the employer to offer work in Sudbury and Montreal but not Toronto. He agreed with the grievors that this was a mere
preference. He accepted that the employer had made a sensible business decision
in good faith, yet this did not raise its decision to the level of an
operational requirement.
[26]
However, the adjudicator then stated that
sections 6 and 7 of the PSLRA precluded the grievors’ claim to work in
the pilot project, “although not in precisely the way
articulated by employer counsel [sic]”: paragraph 31.
[27]
Clause 28.05(a) of the collective agreement
confers a right to employees who are “readily available”
to perform overtime work. The adjudicator assumed that the grievors were “available” on the Saturdays in question, in the sense
that they would have accepted an offer to work overtime at the Toronto call centre. However, he wished to attribute some meaning to the word “readily”.
[28]
According to the adjudicator, the employer had
the exclusive and entrenched prerogative to open or close the Toronto call
centre on the Saturdays in question. As such, the adjudicator had “no authority to declare that the employer should have opened
it for the grievors or to question its failure to do so”: paragraph 34.
[29]
On the strength of this conclusion, the
adjudicator read the words “ready available” (facilement
disponibles in French) to mean that little would prevent the employees from
performing the work if it were actually assigned to them. He buttressed this
interpretation with the Ontario arbitration decision Kirkland and District
Hospital v Service Employees International Union, Local 204 (Lafontaine
Grievance), [2004] OLAA No 71 [Kirkland], where a collective
agreement was read to allow managers to drive an ambulance if employees were
not “ready available”, interpreted to mean
physically present at the base.
[30]
The adjudicator held that the Toronto employees
were not “ready available” for the work in
question on Saturdays because no Toronto workplace existed on those days. Even
if clause 28.05(a) gave them a claim to work out of the Montreal or Sudbury call centres, the fact that they would have had to travel would have impeded their
ready availability for that work.
[31]
For the above reasons, the adjudicator dismissed
the grievances.
V.
Analysis
A.
Did the adjudicator breach the principles of
procedural fairness?
[32]
There is no need to engage in a detailed
standard of review discussion to decide this issue. Counsel for both parties
agreed that the Court should not show deference to the adjudicator when
determining whether he breached the duty of fairness on the facts of this case.
After undertaking my own analysis of this question, I have concluded that the
adjudicator did indeed breach the duty which fell upon him.
[33]
The applicants contend that the adjudicator
denied them the right to be heard, also known as the audi alteram partem
principle. They refer to Justice Sopinka’s definition of this principle in his
dissenting reasons in IWA v Consolidated-Bathurst Packaging Ltd, [1990]
1 SCR 282 at page 298 [Consolidated-Bathurst]: “a
party to an administrative proceeding entitled to a hearing is entitled to a
meaningful hearing in the sense that the party must be given an opportunity to
deal with the material that will influence the tribunal in coming to its
decision”.
[34]
In Consolidated-Bathurst, the Supreme
Court considered whether the Ontario Labour Relations Board’s practice of
conducting ex parte meetings where its members discussed the cases
before them contravened procedural fairness. At page 338, the majority of the
Court held that this practice was consistent with the audi alteram partem
principle, as long as certain safeguards were met:
It is now necessary to consider the conditions
under which full board meetings must be held in order to abide by the audi
alteram partem rule. In this respect, the only possible breach of this
rule arises where a new policy or a new argument is proposed at a full board
meeting and a decision is rendered on the basis of this policy or argument
without giving the parties an opportunity to respond.
I agree with Cory J.A. (as he then was) that
the parties must be informed of any new ground on which they have not made any
representations. In such a case, the parties must be given a reasonable
opportunity to respond and the calling of a supplementary hearing may be
appropriate.
[Emphasis added]
[35]
Thus, the Court held that a breach of procedural
fairness arises when a decision is rendered on the basis of new arguments to
which the parties have had no opportunity to respond. The case law does not
limit the reach of this principle to ex parte meetings. Indeed, it has harnessed
the same approach in a variety of circumstances.
[36]
Audi alteram partem applies in the context of civil trials to prevent judges from
rendering decisions on grounds different from those which the parties pleaded
and argued. In Rodaro v Royal Bank, [2002] OJ No 1365 at paras 58-61,
the Ontario Court of Appeal explained that it is inappropriate for the trial
judge to determine the defendants’ liability on the basis of a theory which had
not been raised during the hearing. Further, at para 62, the Court held that
such a practice was not only unfair but also created the risk of an
unreasonable decision, since the argument endorsed by the judge had not been tested
through the adversarial process.
[37]
The Federal Court of Appeal offered a recent summary
of the state of the law on the principle in Tervita Corporation v
Commissioner of Competition, 2013 FCA 28 at paras 71-74:
In the normal course of judicial proceedings, parties
are entitled to have their disputes adjudicated on the basis of the issues
joined in the pleadings. This is because when a trial court steps outside the
pleadings to decide a case, it risks denying a party a fair opportunity to
address the related evidentiary issues: Rodaro v. Royal Bank of Canada
(2002), 59 O.R. (3d) 74 (C.A.) at paras. 60 to 63; Nunn v. Canada, 2006
FCA 403, 367 N.R. 108 at paras. 23 to 26; Labatt Brewing Company Ltd. v. NHL
Enterprises Canada, L.P., 2011 ONCA 511, 106 O.R. (3d) 677 at paras. 4 to 9
and 21.
[72] However, this does not mean that a trial
judge can never decide a case on a basis other than that set out in the
pleadings. In essence, a judicial decision may be reached on a basis which
does not perfectly accord with the pleadings if no party to the proceedings was
surprised or prejudiced: Lubrizol Corp. v. Imperial Oil Ltd., [1996]
3 F.C. 40 (C.A.) at paras. 14 to 16; Barker v. Montfort Hospital, 2007
ONCA 282, 278 D.L.R. (4th) 215 at paras. 18 to 22; Colautti Construction
Ltd. v. Ashcroft Development Inc., 2011 ONCA 359, 1 C.L.R. (4th) 138 at
paras. 42 to 47.
[73] A trial judge must decide a case according
to the facts and the law as he or she finds them to be. Accordingly, there is
no procedural unfairness where a trial judge, on his or her own initiative or
at the initiative of one of the parties, raises and decides an issue in a
proceeding that does not squarely fit within the pleadings, as long as, of
course, all the parties have been informed of that issue and have been given a
fair opportunity to respond to it: Pfizer Canada Inc. v. Mylan
Pharmaceuticals ULC, 2012 FCA 103, 430 N.R. 326 at para. 27; Murphy v.
Wyatt, [2011] EWCA Civ. 408, [2011] 1 W.L.R. 2129 at paras. 13 to 19; R.
v. Keough, 2012 ABCA 14, [2012] 5 W.W.R. 45.
[74] These principles also apply to
contested proceedings before the Tribunal. It acts as a judicial body:
section 8 and subsection 9(1) of the Competition Tribunal Act. Though
the proceedings before the Tribunal are to be dealt with informally and
expeditiously, they are nevertheless subject to the principles of procedural
fairness: subsection 9(2) of the Competition Tribunal Act.
Accordingly, the Competition Tribunal Rules, SOR/2008-141(“Rules”)
provide that an application to the Tribunal must be made by way of a notice of
application setting out, inter alia, a concise statement of the grounds
for the application and of the material facts on which the applicant relies, as
well as a concise statement of the economic theory of the case: Rules at paras.
36(2)(c) and (d). Similar provisions apply to a response and to a reply: Rules
at paras. 38(2)(a)(b) and (c) and subsection 39(2). The Rules also set out a
detailed and complete system of pre-hearing disclosures: Rules at sections 68
to 74 and 77-78.
[Emphasis added]
[38]
There are three takeaway points from this
discussion. First, a decision-maker may raise and decide a new issue if the
parties have been given a fair opportunity to respond to it. Second,
non-compliance with the previous rule will amount to a breach of procedural
fairness only if it inflicts surprise or prejudice upon a party. Third, these
principles apply to administrative decision-makers in addition to courts.
[39]
Courts have applied this principle when
reviewing the decisions of arbitrators and labour boards. The applicants have
brought two such cases to my attention. In NAPE v Conception Bay South
Integrated School Board (1995), 132 Nfld & PEIR 353, the Newfoundland
Supreme Court Trial Division quashed a labour board decision which had relied
on an argument that had not been raised by the parties. In Canada Linen and
Uniform Service Co v Saskatchewan Joint Board, Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union, 2005 SKQB 264, the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench quashed
a decision because the board had relied on numerous decisions from other
jurisdictions which neither party had addressed. In my view, this last case is germane
to the extent that it stands for the proposition that a tribunal should not
rely on authority which neither party addressed in order to decide an issue
which neither party raised.
[40]
The crux of the applicants’ argument is that the
adjudicator based his decision on grounds that were never advanced by the
employer: namely, that the applicants were not “readily
available” for overtime within the meaning of clause 28.05(a). When
deciding this issue which neither party had raised, the adjudicator referred to
Kirkland, an Ontario arbitration decision which neither party had
addressed.
[41]
The respondent argues that the applicants were
not denied procedural fairness because the only issue between the parties at
all relevant times – from the filing of the initial grievances to the
adjudicator’s decision – was the interpretation and application of clause
28.05(a). The adjudicator did not prohibit the parties from making submissions
on any aspect of this clause, including the definition of the word “readily”. As such, the applicants voluntarily refrained
from addressing this matter and must accept the consequences of their choice.
[42]
I agree with the applicants that the adjudicator
contravened audi alteram partem by deciding the matter on the basis that
the applicants were not “readily available” for
overtime work. Contrary to the respondent’s suggestion, the applicants did not
undertake the risk of not making submissions on the meaning of “readily available” with full knowledge that it might
lead to a negative decision. To the contrary, the applicants did not make such
submissions because the adjudicator had caused them to believe that he would
not be deciding that question.
[43]
At paragraph 3 of his decision, the adjudicator
explicitly narrowed the issue to the question of “whether,
on the assumption that they were available and qualified, [the grievors] were
entitled to be offered overtime opportunities”. He segmented the
question of whether they were, in fact, available and qualified from the
interpretive exercise he proposed to conduct at that stage of the proceedings.
[44]
The adjudicator agreed with the argument made by
the respondent to the effect that sections 6 and 7 of the PSLRA gave it
the prerogative to decide whether or not to open the Toronto office on
Saturdays. However, the adjudicator then explicitly rejected the respondent’s
argument that the above legislation shielded its decision to offer overtime
only to Montreal and Sudbury employees from review. At paragraph 31, he
declared:
I should state that while an adjudicator cannot
question or compel the employer’s exercise of its entrenched prerogative, I am
satisfied that overtime resulting from the exercise of that prerogative is
fully subject to the terms of the collective agreement.
[45]
It is therefore clear that, in itself, the
adjudicator’s conclusion on the interpretation of sections 6 and 7 of the PSLRA
did not resolve the underlying question. The adjudicator had to take one
additional step – interpreting the words “readily available” – before
dismissing the grievances.
[46]
The adjudicator plainly breached procedural
fairness by deciding that the grievors were not readily available for work
despite telling the parties that he would assume that they would have been
available. It might be said that he never stated that he would assume that they
would be “readily available”, yet it would be
unduly formalistic to focus on the absence of the word “readily”
from paragraph 3 of his decision. The applicants subjectively believed that
they did not need to address the interpretation of this word due to the
adjudicator’s declared assumption. In my view, this belief was objectively
justified from the standpoint of the reasonable person.
[47]
The applicants were clearly surprised and
prejudiced by the adjudicator’s failure to provide them with an opportunity to
make submissions on this point. Had they been offered such an opportunity and presented
arguments, their grievances might not have been dismissed.
[48]
To conclude this point, I wish to reject two
arguments made by counsel for the respondent. First, I do not agree that the
applicants are raising a question on judicial review which they ought to have
raised before the adjudicator. The applicants had no notice that the
adjudicator would ground his decision on the interpretation of the term “readily available” until they received his decision. As
such, they had no earlier opportunity to raise the allegation of procedural
unfairness which they have raised in this application.
[49]
Second, I reject the respondent’s suggestion
that audi alteram partem is relaxed to the point of permitting a
decision-maker to decide issues that neither party addressed when these issues
pertain to law or policy, as opposed to factual disputes. Read properly, Consolidated-Bathurst
insists that a decision-maker cannot raise novel issues of any sort without
bringing them to the attention of the parties. In that case, the majority found
that audi alteram partem had not been breached because the parties had
made submissions on the policy issues which the Board members discussed ex
parte.
B.
Should the adjudicator’s decision be upheld
even if he did breach the principles of procedural fairness?
[50]
Two Supreme Court cases are helpful for deciding
whether a decision tainted by procedural unfairness should be allowed to stand.
In Cardinal v Director of Kent Institution, [1985] 2 S.C.R. 643 at page 661,
Justice Le Dain held that
…the denial of a right to a fair hearing must
always render a decision invalid, whether or not it may appear to a reviewing
court that the hearing would likely have resulted in a different decision. The
right to a fair hearing must be regarded as an independent, unqualified right
which finds its essential justification in the sense of procedural justice
which any person affected by an administrative decision is entitled to have. It
is not for a court to deny that right and sense of justice on the basis of
speculation as to what the result might have been had there been a hearing.
[51]
This statement received some qualification in Mobil
Oil Canada Ltd v Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board, [1994] 1 SCR
202. In that case, the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board had
rejected the applicants’ request in writing, pursuant to its interpretation of
the relevant legislation. The Supreme Court endorsed the Board’s statutory
interpretation on the cross-appeal, yet it found that the Board had breached
the principles of natural justice by denying the applicants an oral hearing.
The Court stated the following at page 228:
In light of these comments, and in the ordinary
case, Mobil Oil would be entitled to a remedy responsive to the breach of
fairness or natural justice which I have described. However, in light of my
disposition on the cross-appeal, the remedies sought by Mobil Oil in the appeal
per se are impractical. While it may seem appropriate to quash the
Chairman’s decision on the basis that it was the product of an improper
subdelegation, it would be nonsensical to do so and to compel the Board to
consider now Mobil Oil’s 1990 application, since the result of the cross-appeal
is that the Board would be bound in law to reject that application by the
decision of this Court.
The bottom line in this case is thus
exceptional, since ordinarily the apparent futility of a remedy will not bar
its recognition: Cardinal, supra. On occasion, however, this
Court has discussed circumstances in which no relief will be offered in the
face of breached administrative law principles: e.g., Harelkin v.
University of Regina, [1979] 2 S.C.R. 561. As I described in the context
of the issue in the cross-appeal, the circumstances of this case involve a
particular kind of legal question, viz., one which has an inevitable
answer.
In Administrative Law (6th ed. 1988), at
p. 535, Professor Wade discusses the notion that fair procedure should come
first, and that the demerits of bad cases should not ordinarily lead courts to
ignore breaches of natural justice or fairness. But then he also states:
A distinction might perhaps be made
according to the nature of the decision. In the case of a tribunal which
must decide according to law, it may be justifiable to disregard a breach of
natural justice where the demerits of the claim are such that it would in any
case be hopeless.
In this appeal, the distinction suggested by
Professor Wade is apt.
[Emphasis added]
[52]
Thus, I would be justified in upholding the
adjudicator’s decision if there existed an “inevitable
answer” to the contested legal issue that would justify dismissing the
applicants’ grievances. In other words, their claim would have to be “hopeless”.
In my view, the applicants’ case does not meet this threshold. I must quash the
adjudicator’s decision even though I express no opinion on the applicants’
ultimate chance of success.
[53]
The applicants submit that they could have
realistically led evidence and made arguments rebutting the adjudicator’s
conclusion on the meaning of “readily available”
within the collective agreement. For instance, they allege that they would have
been able to prove that their case is distinguishable from Kirkland for
two reasons. First, the clause interpreted in Kirkland went to the
definition of bargaining unit work, not the distribution of overtime. Second,
the decision-maker’s interpretation in Kirkland was influenced by the
emergency context, whereas the grievors do not respond to emergencies.
[54]
The applicants further submit that they would
have been able to present evidence about the employer’s general practices for
distributing overtime which would have rendered the adjudicator’s interpretation
of “readily available” unreasonable. As an
illustration, the applicants refer to a subsequent decision rendered by the
Public Service Labour Relations Board, Public Service Alliance of Canada v
Treasury Board (Department of Employment and Social Development), 2014
PSLRB 11, where an adjudicator considered such evidence when interpreting the
term “readily available”.
[55]
At first impression, the applicants advance
plausible arguments. It would not be “hopeless”
for them to attempt to persuade an adjudicator to endorse a different
interpretation of “readily available” than the one
adopted in the decision under review.
[56]
The applicants have requested costs. As no request
was made for enhanced costs or costs in a fixed amount, they shall be
determined according to the ordinary scale.