The Ontario Labour Relations Board is an adjudicative agency of the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development and was established by the

Ontario government The government of Ontario (french: Gouvernement de l'Ontario) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor— ...

in 1948. It defines itself as "an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal mandated to mediate and adjudicate a variety of employment and

labour relations Labor relations is a field of study that can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In an international context, it is a subfield of labor history that studies the human relations with regard to work in its broadest ...

-related matters under a number of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

statutes". Its current (2022) chair is Brian O'Byrne.

Role

The Board deals with many types of applications relating to labour relations within the province of Ontario. Most cases at the OLRB involve either the Labour Relations Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, or the Employment Standards Act. One of the most important powers of the Ontario Labour Relations Board is the ability to certify

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s as

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...

agents. The Board is also in charge of the union formation, termination and decertification. It also commonly deals with claims of unfair labour practices, occupational health and safety reprisals, duty of fair representation cases and, construction industry grievances, among others.

Location

The Ontario Labour Relations Board is located at 505 University Ave.

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario.

Decisions

Decisions issued by the OLRB are made available on

CanLII The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII; french: Institut canadien d'information juridique) is a non-profit organization created and funded by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada in 2001 on behalf of its 14 member societies. CanLII ...

and commercial legal databases. All reported OLRB decisions back to 1944 are available in the Ontario Workplace Tribunal Library.

Library

The Ontario Workplace Tribunals Library (OWTL) is attached to the Ontario Labour Relations Board and is open to the public. The library collects and organizes materials related to workplace health and safety, human rights/discrimination, pay equity, labour relations and employment law, administrative law and other related subjects. In addition to the Board, the Library provides services to the staff of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal. The library also holds the OLRB collection of bargaining unit certificates issued from 1962 to the present. Certificates issued from 2007 onward are available on the OWTL website.

Publications

The Ontario Labour Relations Board publishes an annual report, bi-monthly reports of significant decisions and a monthly publication of summaries of significant decisions called “Highlights”.

Support to other Agencies and Commissions

In 2008, by the signing of their respective Memoranda of Understanding with the Ministry of Labour, the Board assumed administrative oversight over the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal. The PEHT has its own OIC appointees (many of whom are cross-appointed from the Board), but relies on the Board for all its administrative and legal support.

Bibliography

* 2019-2020 - ''Annual report''.Publications - Ontario Labour Relations Board.
/ref> * 2018-2019 - ''Annual report''.

Notes

References

* Charlotte A. B. Yates, "Staying the Decline in Union Membership: Union Organizing in Ontario, 1985-1999.", in ''Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations'', vol. 55, n° 4, 2000, pp. 640–674, and ,

External links

OLRB Website

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