Court Quashes Arbitrator’s Reinstatement of Five Employees Terminated for Workplace Harassment

April 18, 2024 | Sherrard Kuzz LLP

The bar to overturn a labour arbitrator’s decision is high. But, in Metrolinx v Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1587,[1] the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Divisional Court) did just that. The decision is significant because the arbitrator decided the employer had no authority to investigate alleged workplace harassment when the harassment occurred on personal devices and on personal time, and the alleged subject of the harassment declined to file a formal complaint. The Divisional Court rejected this analysis and affirmed an employer’s right, and obligation, to act even in these circumstances.

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