LABOUR RELATIONS |
Société Radio-Canada v. Lemieux
T-231-00
2001 FCT 1314, Rouleau J.
29/11/01
33 pp.
Application for judicial review of arbitral award by adjudicator allowing defendant's complaint and ordering plaintiff Société Radio-Canada (SRC) to pay defendant compensation of $54,253 less money earned elsewhere--SRC alleged adjudicator exceeded jurisdiction--Employment contract as lawyer to draft contracts for SRC's acquisitions branch--Renewal not automatic: written notice by SRC required 60 days before contract expired--Contract stated contained all agreements between parties--Three renewals--Another contract of employment made for period from July 1, 1992 to June 30, 1993 as administrator of production contracts, including significant increase in salary, with same clauses on renewal and content of contract--Final contract covered period July 1, 1993 to June 30, 1994--Defendant signed all contracts with SRC without any negotiation, contracts all having been pre-signed by SRC representative--Within deadlines laid down, SRC informed defendant of intention not to renew contract when it expired--Defendant challenged what he felt to be unjust dismissal--Adjudicator ruled in his favour--Application allowed--Irreconcilable conflict on admissibility of evidence of circumstances surrounding signature of contracts between provisions of Labour Code, s. 242(2)(c) which provides adjudicator determines procedure to be followed, and Civil Code of Lower Canada, art. 1234 which provides testimony cannot be received to contradict or vary terms of valid written instrument--Where there is irreconcilable conflict between provisions of Labour Code and C.C.L.C., those of Labour Code take priority over provisions of C.C.L.C. to extent of inconsistency--Adjudicator properly dismissed plaintiff's objection to admissibility of oral evidence on circumstances surrounding signature and renewal of employment contract--Adjudicator not bound by strict rules of evidence (Code in fact provides parties may present evidence and make submissions and contains no provision limiting adjudicator's powers over procedure and evidence) and may give evidence whatever weight he or she thinks best--In case at bar, adjudicator made reviewable error when she concluded almost exclusively on basis of defendant's evidence that he had been dismissed--Adjudicator did not have jurisdiction to decide on validity of contractual arrangement entered into between SRC and employees: jurisdiction limited to what is mentioned in Code, in this case solely to decide whether termination of employment relationship between parties to dispute could be characterized as dismissal, and if so whether dismissal unjust--On each occasion defendant consented as clearly as possible to policy governing employment with SRC--Adjudicator made error in not taking acceptance into account, attaching undue weight to defendant's oral evidence and advancing theory without legal basis (that term contract could not exist for regular duties)--No guarantee of employment so long as defendant's contract not renewed--Canada Labour Code, R.S.C., 1985, c. L-2, s. 242(2)(c)--Civil Code of Lower Canada, art. 1234.