Vice-Chair finds arbitrator already grappled with Code arguments, blocking second kick at the can
Ontario's Human Rights Tribunal refused to revive a Sheridan College worker's reprisal claim already tackled in arbitration.
Vice-Chair Emily Morton issued the decision on May 8, 2026, dismissing a reconsideration request from former employee Maximiliaan van Woundenberg. He argued his union's 18-day grievance arbitration did not deal with the human rights issues raised in his application. Morton found otherwise, ruling the arbitrator had been alive to those arguments and that reopening the case would require the Tribunal to hear the same evidence again.
How a termination became a two-track reprisal fight
Van Woundenberg was terminated from Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning on Feb. 28, 2017. He filed a grievance on March 14, 2017, and on July 13, 2017, filed a Tribunal application alleging reprisal against the college and individual respondents Mary Preece and Stephanie Samboo. He claimed the college fired him because he had previously filed a human rights application in 2015.
His union, OPSEU Local 244, took the grievance to arbitration. The arbitrator's May 2, 2022, decision followed the 18-day hearing and dismissed the grievance. The Tribunal's original decision, 2026 HRTO 218, issued Feb. 4, 2026, dismissed van Woundenberg's application under s. 45.1 of the Human Rights Code, finding the arbitration had appropriately dealt with his reprisal...
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