Guides

Guides are available that give individuals filing a complaint or referring a grievance to adjudication and who wish to represent themselves before the Public Service Labour Relations Board a more comprehensive explanation of the processes involved and how we can help.

Representing Yourself: How we can help

As a quasi-judicial tribunal, the Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB) renders decisions on grievances, complaints and labour relations matters before it. We are committed to providing parties to cases with respectful, efficient, courteous and timely service that is impartial at all times.

This means that we provide information in an unbiased and neutral fashion and we do not advocate in any manner for individual employees, bargaining agents, or employers. The PSLRB does not pay the legal costs of either side in a dispute.

If you are thinking about referring a grievance to adjudication or filing a complaint, we strongly suggest that you seek the advice of your bargaining agent or a private practice lawyer before commencing.

An officer from the PSLRB's Registry Operations and Policy Division will be assigned to each case. If you are representing yourself, until your case is heard, the only contact you will have is with PSLRB employees. Therefore, it is important to understand what our employees can and cannot do to help you.

Our employees will be pleased to help you by:

• telling you what forms you may need to use and providing you with information to help you fill out some parts of the forms
• giving you blank copies of forms or directing you to where they can be found online
• briefly explaining how we work and answering questions about our practices and procedures
• giving you basic information about mediation, applications, complaints, grievances or hearings
• giving you general information about how your case is proceeding and describing what is involved in each step of the process of having your case heard
• explaining how to get a case set down for hearing
• providing information about the availability of interpretation services.

Our employees cannot:

• give you advice of any nature
• give you legal advice nor recommend the name of any lawyer to act on your behalf
• advise you as to which tribunal to initiate your proceeding before, should there be a choice
• interpret any portion of a collective agreement, arbitral award, or any jurisprudence or policies which may apply to you
• tell you what words to use in your documents
• tell you whether you have included enough information in your documents
• tell you what to say at a hearing or how to make your legal arguments or written submissions
• tell you what the decision in your case will be or give you any opinion about what it might be
• interpret orders made by the Board, the Chairperson or an adjudicator
• change an order that has been made by the Board, the Chairperson or an adjudicator
• allow you to communicate directly with the Chairperson, a Board Member or an adjudicator at any time, other than at a pre-hearing conference or at your hearing.