THE EMPLOYERS' EDGE
Early Dismissal of Case at Labour Board Saves Client Time and Money
Practice Areas:
Labour Relations
In a joint effort by two of CCP’s senior associates, CCP recently had a case against one of its clients dismissed by the Ontario Labour Relations Board on the basis of a preliminary objection. The success of such preliminary motions is rare at the Board, but in this instance Board Vice-Chair Diane Gee ruled that CCP’s submissions on behalf of its client, “M”, would carry the day, and dismissed an unfair labour practice application against the client, a construction contractor.
In this case, the applicant union had alleged that “M” and another contractor, “C”, had conspired and colluded in an attempt to defeat the union’s certification application against C. However, the CCP team recognized that the allegations against M, aside from being false, did not make out a proper case upon which the Board could find a violation of the Labour Relations Act, 1995.
Accordingly, CCP lawyers worked together on putting forward the argument that the union had not raised a “prima facie” case; in other words, even if true, the union’s allegations could not prove any case against M.
As mentioned above, the threshold for dismissal of cases on this basis is quite high, and motions of this nature are rarely successful. However, the Board considered CCP’s arguments and submissions to be persuasive, and as a result M has been saved from participating any further in what will no doubt turn out to be costly and time-consuming litigation.
CCP has expertise in all areas of labour and employment law, and this result illustrates the depth of the CCP team: by taking a team based and strategic approach in its handling of the case, CCP has saved M time and money, both of which are better spent on M’s own business than in litigation.
CCP lawyers are always thinking strategically for our clients, providing efficient and effective representation in all settings.
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