Changes To The Labour Relations Code ("LRC")

• Published date: 09 July 2020
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Employee Rights/ Labour Relations, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution
• Law Firm: McLennan Ross LLP
• Author: McLennan Ross Labour & Employment Team

Hearings by the Labour Board ("Board")

1. The Board may hear more cases with the Chair or a Vice Chair sitting alone rather than a full panel of three. Such cases now include:

1. reviews of grievance arbitration awards;
2. certain determination applications under the LRC (e.g., whether someone is an employee, whether an organization is a trade union, the membership status of a person in a trade union whether a bargaining unit is appropriate, and whether someone is included in a bargaining unit);
3. compelling witness attendance and production of documents;
4. questions relating to strike or lockout votes; and
5. if the Chair is of the opinion it is necessary due to an emergency.

Summary Dismissal

2. The power of the Board to summarily reject applications is expanded for cases where an application is "filed with improper motives" or is otherwise an abuse of process.

Remedial Certification

3. In what will be a surprise to some, the Government has left the power of remedial certification in the LRC. However it has tightened the conditions required to obtain remedial certification.

First, there must be a determination by the Board that a representation vote does not reflect the true wishes of the employees in the unit because of a prohibited practice.

Second, automatic certification can be issued "only if no other remedy or remedies would be sufficient to counteract the effects of the prohibited practice."

In addition, the Board may refuse to certify on the same conditions in cases of prohibited practices by a union.

Financial Disclosure

4. Consistent with a general legislative trend towards greater financial disclosure of public bodies and corporations, there are new requirements upon unions to provide members with an annual financial statement free of charge and within a reasonable time Details of the financial statement will be set out in regulations The regulations may also set out different classes of trade unions in respect to these obligations. In order to enforce the new rights, a member has a right of complaint to the Board for any failure by a union to comply with the requirements.

Certification and Revocation Procedures

5. The procedure for certification and revocation applications has been largely returned to what existed before changes made by the previous Government in 2017. Among other difficulties, the current procedure frequently creates practical problems for the Board and parties in that applications must be fully determined no later than 20 or 25 working days after the application is filed with a limited power of the Chair to extend the time limit. This time limit is arbitrary, inflexible, and frequently insufficient to properly address applications.

The new procedure removes these time limits and returns to the requirement that the Board must complete its inquiries and consideration "as soon as possible." However, one new time limit is that the Board must make its final decision on an application no later than 6 months after the application is filed.

Collective Agreement Renewal

6. For many years, parties to a collective agreement had the ability to enter an early renewal of the collective agreement before the expiry date. This may arise in various situations, for example when economic conditions have changed, or a new project is beginning that necessitate changes to terms and conditions of employment. Early...