Psychological Harassment: Reining In Duplication Of Proceedings

In a judgment handed down on January 27, 2014, the Quebec Superior Court1 held that a decision of the Commission des lésions professionnelles (employment injury review board) finding that there was no workplace harassment operated as res judicata in relation to a complaint filed with the Commission des relations du travail (labour relations board) under section 123.6 of the Act respecting labour standards alleging psychological harassment at work.

This ruling by the Superior Court affirms the imperative of reining in the duplication of proceedings based on the same facts.

The facts

In this case, the worker had filed a claim before the Quebec's Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) for employment injury allegedly caused by psychological harassment in the workplace. When her claim was rejected, the worker had taken her case to the employment injury review board, the Commission des lésions professionnelle (CLP). On September 29, 2008, the CLP dismissed the worker's claim, finding that the facts adduced by the worker did not constitute psychological harassment but rather the ordinary exercise of the employer's management rights.

At the same time as she filed her claim with the CSST, the worker had also filed, among other things, a complaint under section 123.6 of the Act respecting labour standards (LSA) contending that she had been the subject of psychological harassment at work. A statement of facts in support of the claim of harassment had been...