Sharpe v. CTS Canadian College, 2026 ONSC 1138
The applicant filed a discrimination complaint in 2015, alleging that her employer terminated her when she disclosed that she suffered from bipolar disorder and sought accommodation for her condition. There were two hearings held in this proceeding. The first, an in-person hearing, commenced in 2018, but was not completed before the adjudicator left the Tribunal in 2021.
The second adjudication took place by video conference and was fraught with procedural anomalies, including allowing the responding employer to file a new witness statement, contrary to earlier rulings, and then forbidding the applicant to cross-examine on the new statement.
The Court found that the applicant’s “procedural right to a fair hearing was violated” and held that deference cannot be afforded the Tribunal when it “ignores its own rules and rulings in an ad hoc and one-sided manner, one which is prejudicial to the fair hearing rights of one party and then fails to explain why it has done so.”
The Court also noted the ten-year length of adjudication was egregious and the exclusive fault of the Tribunal.