Case information

Labour law — Identification of true employer in tripartite relationship — Relevant criteria — Administrative law — Deference — Shortage of nursing staff in Quebec — Independent workers therefore used — Applicant union filing motions to determine whether independent workers were included in bargaining unit — Administrative Labour Tribunal finding that they were included in bargaining unit and subject to applicable institutional framework — Administrative decisions set aside on judicial review — Whether Court of Appeal erred in finding that interpretation of various statutes invoked by Administrative Labour Tribunal as legal framework was unreasonable.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

In 2016 and 2017, Quebec’s Administrative Labour Tribunal (“ALT”) allowed four applications for judicial review in two administrative decisions in which it declared that certain groups of nursing professionals working at a number of hospitals through private agencies were employees within the meaning of the Labour Code, CQLR, c. C 27, and were therefore included in the applicant union’s bargaining unit. According to the ALT’s interpretation, once an establishment is the sole care provider under the institutional framework established by statute, it assigns and oversees the work of the nursing professionals and, as a result, can only be their one true employer. The Superior Court set aside the decisions on the ground that they were unreasonable, and the Court of Appeal upheld that conclusion. In the Court of Appeal’s view, the ALT’s decision was unreasonable because its conclusions could not reasonably be supported by the legal framework invoked.