Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation v. The Crown in Right of Ontario, et al. (September 6, 2019 – OLRB)
OSSTF filed two applications before the OLRB under the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014 (SBCBA) with respect to secondary school teachers in the English language public school system and support staff in the various school systems represented by OSSTF. Both applications were for the OLRB to determine whether certain matters fell within the scope of central or local bargaining under the SBCBA. The specific matters related to such items as class size provisions for teachers, preparation time for Early Childhood Educators, new forms of compensation, sick leave, short term paid leaves, additional professional assignments, supervision and unassigned teacher time, and staffing committees. The OLRB directed that all matters be bargained centrally.
LABOUR RELATIONS
ETFO and Ontario Public School Boards’ Assn. (26), 2019 CanLII 72796 (ON LA)
An arbitrator has determined that when the Crown assumes funding obligations, in Letters of Agreement forming part of teacher collective agreements, a union may later refer a grievance to arbitration claiming a breach by the Crown. However, the arbitrator found – on the facts of this case – that this dispute was outside of an arbitrator’s jurisdiction.
In the arbitrator’s view, when the Crown enters into agreement(s) and assumes obligations thereunder, that form part of collective agreements, then it has necessarily, impliedly and effectively attorned to the jurisdiction of an arbitrator – whether those agreement(s) confirm that specifically or not.
Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario (CEPEO) v Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) (O’Neil) (August 2019)
An arbitrator granted a stay of proceedings for two grievances filed under the collective agreement for regular teachers on the basis that two other grievances that challenged the same School Board practice under the collective agreement for occasional teachers were already before another arbitrator. Both groups of grievances seek to challenge the School Board’s practice of creating full-time annual long-term occasional teacher positions.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Kahn v. Upper Grand District School Board, 2019 HRTO 1137 (CanLII)
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found that the Applicant, a grade 2 student with Autism Spectrum Disorder and a learning disability breached his duty to cooperate in the accommodation process when his parent refused her consent to allow the Applicant to participate in a Student Centred Intervention Plan. The Tribunal held that while parents have the right to provide input as part of the accommodation process – something the Applicant’s parent did in this case – they must accept reasonable accommodations offered by the School Board.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION INITIATIVES
Policy/Program Memorandum 163: School Board Policies on Service Animals
All school boards in Ontario are required to develop, implement, and maintain a policy on student use of service animals in schools by January 1, 2020.
Policy/Program Memorandum 128: The Provincial Code of Conduct and School Board Codes of Conduct (revised)
The provincial Code of Conduct has been revised to include a restriction on the use of personal mobile devices during instructional time. The amendments come into force November 4, 2019.
