‘Vacations and other clerical absences are both foreseeable and not an excuse for non-compliance’
A Nova Scotia employer has been denied the right to challenge a wrongful dismissal order worth $6,169 after failing to meet a strict 10-day appeal deadline, even though it filed paperwork on time.
The Nova Scotia Labour Board dismissed Target Park Group's appeal application because the company's $2,000 security payment arrived nearly a month late, with vice-chair Raffi Balmanoukian ruling that a staff vacation was no excuse for the delay.
The employee, Devin McIsaac, was dismissed on October 31, 2023, and filed a complaint 17 days later. After a hearing, the Director of Labour Standards found Target liable and issued an order on June 25, 2025. Target attempted to appeal on July 9, 2025 — one day before the deadline — but sent the required security payment by mail instead of including it with the electronic filing.
When filing on time isn't really on time
Target's legal representative submitted the Notice of Appeal by email on July 9, noting the payment would be sent separately. The board immediately responded the same day, clarifying that "the appeal cannot be deemed filed with the board until payment is received and verified." Despite this warning, the cheque dated July 25, 2025 didn't arrive until August 5, 2025.
Under Nova Scotia's Labour Standards Code, employers must file appeals within 10 business days and include either the full amount owed or $2,000 as security, whichever is less. The regulations state explicitly that "an appeal is not considered filed, and will not proceed, until all required documents and the payment or security are received by the board."
Target had clear notice of these requirements. The Notice of Appeal form contained a pre-printed warning stating that "an application which is not accompanied by the full amount of the required funds or security may be dismissed by the board without a hearing into the merits of the case, and without further notice to you."
Staff vacation proves costly excuse
Target argued the delay resulted from clerical error, specifically that "the person responsible for issuing such cheques was on vacation," and that the omission was promptly corrected with no prejudice resulting. The company maintained it had demonstrated a genuine intention to appeal within the required timeframe.
McIsaac countered that "Target is a large company capable of the logistics of issuing a cheque in a timely fashion" and that he was prejudiced by the delay in receiving payment ordered by the Director. He argued that vacations and clerical absences were foreseeable events that should not excuse non-compliance.
The board unanimously rejected Target's explanation, finding no reasonable excuse for the failure to file properly. The decision emphasized that "vacations and other clerical absences are both foreseeable and not an excuse for non-compliance with the regulatory timeframe."
Short deadlines serve a purpose
The board acknowledged that Target's five-and-a-half page Notice of Appeal raised grounds "including misapprehension and misapplication of the evidence and error in application of the law surrounding just cause." It was prepared to accept "that the appeal is not 'doomed to failure,' should it be allowed to proceed."
However, the decision noted that "the ten-day appeal period in the Code is not long. This supports the statutory objectives of the Code that employees in Nova Scotia should have ready and easy access to their minimum employment standards." The Board quoted a previous case stating: "If, as it is cynically said, civil litigation is the sport of kings, labour standards adjudication is everyone else's sport, and its efficient structure underscores that."
Vice-Chair Balmanoukian concluded that "the legislature has also granted the board discretion to step outside of those timelines, but these should be the exceptions not the rules and only on compelling and reasonable grounds." The application for extension of time was dismissed on October 31, 2025.
