Rioux & Cloutier v. Leclair

Full Text

161-2-1140 & 1146 (2003 PSSRB 75)
Rioux and Cloutier v. Leclair

Before: L.-P. Guindon
Appearances: Rioux and Cloutier, for the complainants; R. Piché, for the defendant
Decision rendered: September 9, 2003

Additional allegations – Request to include additional allegations in the initial complaints – Fundamentally alter the complaints – at the hearing on August 14, 2003, the complainants asked that the "additional allegations" and the "request for intervention" be considered as included in the initial complaints and be heard at the same time as the initial complaints – the complainants argued that the events described in these documents establish that the employer's representatives continued to discriminate against them after they made their initial complaints – according to the wording of the "additional allegations", the employees claimed that they had suffered harm by the employer because they had made a complaint to the Board – the nature of these allegations is different from those in the present complaints, which have to do with reprisals to which the complainants claim they were subjected to discourage them from participating in union activities (by acting as a member of the union local executive or as a members' representative) – the Board decided that the additional allegations, set out in documents totalling 41 pages, would make already voluminous files a great deal more complicated and would considerably delay the decision on the initial complaints – the Board therefore concluded that including the "additional allegations" in the present complaints would fundamentally alter the nature of the initial complaints, and the Board should consider these allegations only as a separate complaint – accordingly, the Board asked its employees to treat the "additional allegations" submitted on March 3, 2003, and the "request for intervention" submitted on September 30, 2001, as new complaints under section 23 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act.

Complaint dismissed.