Sometimes we management-side labour/employment lawyers get a little discouraged by case law which can, on occasion, seem to favour employees.  But once in a while there’s good news and it is particularly good when it comes from the Supreme Court of Canada.  Last week, the SCC strongly reaffirmed the principle that Human Rights Tribunals should not allow an applicant to relitigate matters which have been already been determined by another tribunal.

British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Board) v. Figliola et al, 2011 SCC 52 involved workers suffering from chronic pain who made claims to the Workers’ Compensation Board (“WCB”).  They were unhappy with the resulting award, which they alleged was discriminatory under the province’s Human Rights Code.  They appealed to the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal (“WCAT”), but before the matter could be heard, legislation was passed removing WCAT’s authority to apply the Human Rights Code.  The workers could have judicially reviewed the WCB decision, but they filed complaints with the Human Rights Tribunal instead.