Communication of investigation results not discriminatory incident: tribunal
The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed a worker’s application alleging racial and ethnic discrimination for missing the one-year limitation period stipulated in the Ontario Human Rights Code.
The worker, who identifies as a Jewish Israeli, was employed with Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development. In 2022, he made an employment standards complaint that he was being underpaid for statutory holidays and lunch breaks. The Ministry assigned an employment standards officer (ESO) to investigate the complaint.
On May 26, 2023, the ESO finished the investigation and issued a report. The worker believed that the report was “tainted by bias and antisemitism.” He also felt that the ESO had used racist language during their communications with him.
The worker wrote to management in the Ministry to lodge a complaint about the ESO. The Ministry’s Director, Central East Region, replied with a letter on Nov. 3. In the letter, the Director stated that ESOs were expected to treat all clients and situations objectively and impartially. The worker’s concerns had been reviewed and it had been determined that the ESO’s decision was in compliance with legislation, regulations, and policy.
Employment standards, discrimination complaint dismissed
The worker wrote back to ask about the Ministry’s complaint mechanisms and, on Nov. 17, the Director reiterated that the ESO’s decision had been reviewed and confirmed as having no discriminatory elements, and the matter had been closed.
Seven months later, on June 13, 2024, the worker filed a human rights application alleging discrimination in employment because of race, ancestry, and place of origin.
The tribunal noted that, under ss. 34(1) of the Code, human rights applications must be filed within one year of the last discriminatory incident alleged. Although the worker wasn’t happy with how the Director handled his complaint, there was no claim that the Director’s investigation leading to the response on Nov. 3, 2023, was discriminatory, and it had been established in an earlier decision that “mere communication of the results of an internal investigation does not constitute an ‘incident’ of discrimination,” the tribunal said.
As a result, the tribunal found that the last alleged discriminatory act was the ESO's report issued on May 26, 2023. This made the application, which was filed more than a year after that date, untimely, said the tribunal.
No good reason for delay in discrimination application
Given that the application was filed late, the tribunal noted that a delay could be excused under ss. 34(2) of the code, which permits late filings if the delay was incurred in good faith and causes no substantial prejudice to others involved. The worker claimed that he had delayed filing until the Ministry finished its internal review, which took several months, during which he felt ignored. He also said that his application had been delayed because of emotional pressure he experienced trying to support family and friends due to geopolitical events in the Middle East.
However, the tribunal found that waiting for the outcome of another process doesn’t justify missing the filing deadline for applications. In addition, there was no medical evidence presented to suggest that the worker was incapacitated by anxiety or other health conditions, noting that the worker was able to communicate with the Ministry and the ombudsman in the months before the Director’s response in November 2023, said the tribunal in determining that there was no good-faith basis for the delay in filing.
The worker also raised an allegation of antisemitism against the Ministry’s counsel, but the tribunal found that this was “bare speculation without factual basis” and, at any rate, the code didn’t cover the relationship between a lawyer and an opposing party in proceedings.
The application was dismissed on the grounds that it was filed out of time and didn’t meet the conditions for an exception. See Granat v. Ontario (Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development), 2025 HRTO 1012.
