Program Chairs:

Elaine Newman, Newman Arbitration Inc.
Ernie A. Schirru, Koskie Minsky LLP

Introductory Remarks

Update on Life at the Ontario Labour Relations Board

• A view from the Chair’s chair - board focus, hearing process issues, caseload, status of consultation committee.  Where is the board headed?
• Revised OLRB Rules of Procedure came in effect in April 2012 - What are the key changes and how are they working?
• What is the impact of the April 2012 OHSA amendments regarding referral of reprisal complaints by inspectors, the Board’s consultation power being extended to reprisal complaints, and the role of the OWA and OEA? Are discharge grievances being heard sooner?

Bernard Fishbein, Chair - Ontario Labour Relations Board 

Ontario Labour Relations Board Practice & Procedure:  Competency in the Face of New Rules

• What are the key differences between the practice of labour law at the Board and in private arbitration?
• Primer on this year’s Rules of Procedure changes and effective practice under the Rules
• Avoiding potential practice pitfalls in bringing or responding to certification applications and interim remedy applications
• Civility of counsel at the Board – when parties are at odds, does that mean counsel must be as well?
• How can counsel manage the tight time lines associated with Board proceedings – what tasks have to be done by counsel and what can be delegated to clients and/or staff?
• What can counsel expect from the Board’s new forms of hearing and adjudication (Skype hearings, case management hearings, consultation hearings?)

Christopher Fiore, Mathews Dinsdale Clark LLP
Elizabeth Mitchell, Koskie Minsky LLP

Working Strategically: Bargaining & Grieving That Makes Sense

• Positional bargaining vs Interest based bargaining – which produces the best labour relations result?
• Bargaining trends – hot issues, innovative models, key wage settlements, substantive constraints (legislated wage constraints), commincation strategies in the digital age, issues on the horizon
• Grievance management – strategies ought to include more than just arbitration.

Harvey Beresford, Hicks Morley LLP
Frances Gallop,  Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP
Mark Geiger, Blaney McMurtry LLP
Bernie Hanson, Cavalluzzo Hayes Shilton McIntyre & Cornish LLP

Workplace Violence & Harassment:  Ontario Labour Relations Board & Arbitral Case Update on Bill 168

• City of Kingston and subsequent cases - Bill 168’s impact on disciplinary penalties for workplace violence
• How is Bill 168 affecting discipline for harassment in the workplace?
• How are reprisal complaints being dealt with following amendments to section 50 of OHSA? (including a discussion of the Conforti, Ludlow, Carpenters decisions and beyond)
• What role does a health and safety inspector play in harassment and violence complaints?
• Best practices in balancing an employer’s privacy obligations and Bill 168 obligations around disclosure of an employee’s “history of violence” in prescribed circumstances

Elaine Newman, Newman Arbitration Inc.
John Illingworth, Gowlings LLP
Stephanie Hobbs, Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP

Update on Notable Grievance Arbitration Decisions

• An update dealing with significant decisions affecting labour arbitration, including:
• The arbitration of human rights grievances – thesignificance of the Figliola decision, sorting out jurisdictional overlap, recent case updates on issues including the Union’s role in educating bargaining unit members, what employers must do to provide a discrimination and harassment free workplace, damages for human rights breaches
• The Supreme Court of Canada’s Nor-Man Regional Health Authority decision: should it change arbitrators’ approach to estoppel? What impact will the decision have on the development of arbitral law in the future?
• Arbitration remedies – update on mental distress,  moral damages, punitive damages post GTAA and other decisions

Elaine Newman, Newman Arbitrations Inc.
Bernie Hanson, Cavalluzzo Hayes Shilton McIntyre & Cornish LLP