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SEPTEMBER 2016 30 INHOUSE Mediation-arbitration approach saves OPTrust time and money By Jennifer Brown F aced with a complex and potentially protracted arbitration process, Ta- mara Johnson, director of labour relations for OPTrust, decided a new approach was needed to not only expedite the process but save on legal costs. Last year, together with her external counsel Michael Sherrard of Sherrard Kuzz LLP, Johnson co-created with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union an expe- dited union grievance resolution process to successfully resolve 29 employment reclas- sifi cation grievances. The grievances covered a period of more than four years, were governed by two dif- ferent collective agreements and involved 12 different positions within a department. The process was developed with the following guiding principles in mind. The process should be: Mutually agreeable, promoting buy-in from and collaboration with the union and creating improved labour relations. Inclusive, facilitating employee participa- tion and representation. Equitable, utilizing a single neutral adju- dicator jointly selected by the parties. Effi cient, implementing an accelerated hearing schedule and co-operative proce- dure for submitting evidence resulting in signifi cant time and cost savings for the union and employer. The parties met for one day to discuss a time-restricted mediation-arbitration pro- cess and develop a guideline agreement. Some of the key strategies included: A single arbitrator appointed to adjudi- cate all grievances. Twenty-nine grievances proactively grouped into 12 classifi cations. A representative union witness was ap- pointed for each classifi cation group. An inquisitorial process was adopted, permitting the arbitrator to obtain evidence directly from each representative witness, with the assistance of a written synopsis of issues and list of questions submitted by CATEGORY: Working with external counsel DEPARTMENT SIZE: Small COMPANY: OPTrust L to R – Lisa Bolton, Michael Sherrard, Tamara Johnson, John Walsh, managing direc- tor, general counsel OPTrust.