City of Toronto meets procedural fairness obligations under Fair Wage Policy

City of Toronto meets procedural fairness obligations under Fair Wage Policy.

Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Municipalities – Wage disparity – Notice – Judicial review – Disclosure – Procedural requirements and fairness

1460973 Ontario Ltd. (c.o.b. C.P. Systems) v. Toronto (City), [2023] O.J. No. 4079, 2023 ONSC 5213, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, September 18, 2023, N.L. Backhouse, S.A. Gomery and S. Nishikawa JJ.

The applicant company (the “Company”) entered into a contract with the City of Toronto (the “City”) for construction services.

The City has a Fair Wage Policy. The Fair Wage Policy imposes a minimum hourly wage that City contractors must pay to their workers. The City conducted an investigation into the Company. It exchanged information with the Company regarding compliance with the Fair Wage Policy. The City’s Fair Wage Office found the Company violated the Fair Wage Policy with respect to the wages required for a specific type of work.

The Company argued the City denied it procedural fairness, by failing to give it fair notice or by failing to provide adequate disclosure.

The Court found that while the City’s initial notice to the Company regarding the investigation was “vague,” in subsequent communications the City provided notice to the Company of the purpose of the investigation, the case it had to meet, and the opportunity to provide submissions in response. The Company acknowledged the subject matter of the investigation and made submissions on that issue.

The Court also found the City met its disclosure obligations. The City was not required to disclose every document in its possession. The Company failed to identify prejudice from the non-disclosure of relevant facts or documents.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.

This case was digested by Joel A. Morris, and first published in the LexisNexis® Harper Grey Administrative Law Netletter and the Harper Grey Administrative Law Newsletter.  If you would like to discuss this case further, please contact Joel A. Morris at jmorris@harpergrey.com.

To stay current with the new case law and emerging legal issues in this area, subscribe here.