Labor & Employment Law

Advancing Human Rights Claims in Court

By Michael Fitzgibbon

Mr. Justice Echlin in the recent case of Anderson v. Tasco Distributors (January 10, 2011) considered a motion to strike out certain paragraphs of a statement of claim dealing with the duty to accommodate.  The main basis for the motion was that the Court was without jurisdiction to hear a claim for breach of a provision of the Ontario Human Rights Code. 

The Court dismissed the motion with costs and held that:

Amendments to the Ontario Human Rights Code have now created the right under s. 46.1(1) to claim compensation in a civil proceeding for a breach of Part I of the Code.  The only qualification to this is found in 46.1(2) which prohibits commencement of an action based solely on an infringement of Part I.  In Honda v. Keays, 2008 SCC 39 (CanLII), [2008] 2 S.C.R. 362 at para. 63, Bastarache J., in speaking for the majority, indicated that a plaintiff could advance a breach of the Code as a cause of action in connections with another wrong.  While Seneca College v. Bhadauria, 1981 CanLII 29 (S.C.C.), [1981] 2 S.C.R. 181 was cited, subsequent appellate civil decisions have significantly diminished its impact and modified its ratio decidendi.  Given the recent legislative changes, I am not satisfied that it is of assistance in this instance.

The pleading is was found to be sufficient to found a claim for wrongful dismissal and a claim for a breach of the Code. 

Full post as published by Thoughts from a Management Lawyer on January 30, 2011 (boomark / email).