Employees may not raise the same human rights issue before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the courts, a recent HRTO decision confirms.
The employee had commenced a court action in which he claimed that he was a person with a disability and as a result he experienced panic attacks. He alleged that he had experienced panic attacks in part because of mistreatment at work. He made essentially the same allegations in a disability-discrimination case at the HRTO, claiming damages for alleged violations of the Human Rights Code in both cases.
The HRTO dismissed his human rights Application, deciding that because the employee had started a court action claiming damages for alleged violations of the Human Rights Code and that court proceeding had not been finally resolved, section 34 of the Human Rights Code required that the HRTO proceeding be dismissed. Duplicative proceedings were not permitted.
Toker v. 1044765 Ontario Inc., 2014 HRTO 1159 (CanLII)
