Union Victory on Health Premium

Divisional Court has upheld an Arbitrator's Ruling that the employer must pay the health care premium for the UFCW employees of Lapoint-Fisher Nursing Home. This is the first case to go to Judicial Review.

Local 175 wins major decision regarding OHIP premiums

On October 17, 2005, the Ontario Divisional Court released its decision to uphold the earlier ruling of the Arbitrator in a grievance against the Lapointe-Fisher Nursing Home.

The original arbitration, concerning the employer’s obligation to pay a health premium introduced by the McGuinty Liberals in their first budget, took place in September 2004.

The Arbitrator ruled that the employer was responsible to pay this premium on behalf of its employees and based his decision on the collective agreement language, which required the employer to pay 100% of the OHIP premiums.

The employer filed an application for judicial review claiming the Arbitrator’s decision was unreasonable. The Divisional Court ruled that the Arbitrator’s decision was reasonable and dismissed the judicial review application. As a result, the Arbitrator’s decision stands and the employer is required to pay 100% of the OHIP premiums in accordance with the language of the collective agreement.

The payment of the OHIP premium has been at issue in a number of workplaces and has been the subject of numerous arbitrations. The obligation of an employer to pay the premiums, notwithstanding the Court’s decision, is dependent upon the language in each collective agreement.

This decision will have ramifications for unionized workers throughout Ontario. The Locals 175 & 633 saw this as an important issue for working people and fought this battle at arbitration and in the courts.
Hopefully other employers will read this decision and follow suit.

More complete information from Lancasterhouse http://www.lancasterhouse.com/decisions/2005/jul/ODC-Lapointe-Fisher.pdf