RULES OF PROCEDURE

PART I: GENERAL

Definitions

1. In these Rules,

(a) "Act" means the Public Service Employee Relations Act,

(b) "Board" means the Alberta Labour Relations Board,

(c) "Code" means the Labour Relations Code,

(d) "Director of Settlement" means a person appointed to that position by the Chair and any person designated by the Chair to act in the Director's absence,

(e) "Party" means an applicant or complainant, a respondent, an intervenor, or any person declared by the Board to be an affected party, and includes a party acting by an agent or solicitor,

(f) "Person" includes an employer, employers' organization, trade union, group of trade unions, employee or group of employees, and

(g) "Proceeding" means an application, reference or complaint.

1.1 These Rules also apply, with any necessary modifications, to proceedings under the Public Service Employee Relations Act and any other statute under which the Board exercises jurisdiction.

2. The Manager of Settlement is delegated all of the powers of the Director of Settlement in matters processed by the Board's Calgary office.

3. The Board may, where it considers it necessary to avoid a miscarriage of justice, relieve against the failure of any person to comply with these Rules and may make such direction in respect of the non-compliance as it deems appropriate.

PART II: COMMENCEMENT OF PROCEEDINGS

(a) an application for certification,

(b) an application to conduct a vote under section 68 or 69 of the Code,

(c) an application to supervise a strike vote or a lockout vote, or

(d) an application for a notice to attend or a notice to attend and produce under section 14 of the Code, or

(e) a construction registration application,

(f) a declaration of strike vote,

(g) a declaration of a lockout vote, or

(h) an application to establish an arbitration board

by filing completed copies of the form provided by the Board for that purpose.

[amended January , 2003]

Service of application/reply/
correspondence

[amended January, 1998]

6. Any document commencing a proceeding shall contain the following details:

[amended January, 1998]

(a) an outline of the facts and circumstances alleged to violate the Code, including when and where the relevant facts occurred and, where known, by whom any actions alleged to violate the Code were taken, and

(b) a reference to the provision or provisions of the Code that the complainant alleges to have been violated.

[amended January, 1998]

[amended January, 1998]

(3) A reply shall contain

[amended January, 1998]

PART III: SERVICE AND NOTICE

(a) a director, officer or executive manager of an employer or employers' organization,

(b) (i) an officer or business representative of a trade union,

(ii) or any person however titled, who performs duties customarily performed by a trade union by a business representative,

(iii) and includes persons resident in Alberta acting on behalf of or employed by either a local, provincial, national or international body to which a local is affiliated or chartered,

(c) any officer, employee or agent who by the terms of that person's appointment or employment is entitled to represent an employer or principal in a proceeding arising under the Code,

(d) a president, chair or other head officer, a director or a secretary of a corporation,

(e) a partner of a partnership,

(f) any joint venturer or responsible official thereof in a joint venture,

(g) the mayor, reeve, chair or other head officer, or the Clerk, Secretary, Secretary-Treasurer or other chief recording officer of a governing body,

(h) a contact person named pursuant to Rules 6 or 8, and

(i) a solicitor acting for a party to a proceeding.

10. This Part does not apply to service of a strike notice or a lockout notice.

11. Where in a proceeding before the Board or in collective bargaining service of a document is required, service may be effected

(a) upon an individual by

(i) personally serving the individual,

(ii) delivering the document to the individual's residence and leaving it with some person who appears to be at least 18 years old, or

(iii) sending the document by registered mail or signed courier receipt to the individual's last known address;

(b) upon a trade union, employer or employers' organization by

(i) personally serving a responsible official,

(ii) delivering the document to its principal place of business in Alberta, addressed to the attention of a responsible official, and leaving it with some person who appears to be at least 18 years old,

(iii) transmitting the document by telecopier to the attention of a responsible official, provided that verbal notice of the transmission is given to a person at the receiving location,

(iv) sending the document by registered mail or signed courier receipt to its principal place of business in Alberta, addressed to a responsible official.

(c) upon any party to a proceeding, by sending it by registered mail or signed courier receipt to its most recent address on file with the Board, or by delivering it to such address and leaving it with some person who appears to be at least 18 years old;

(d) upon a corporation,

(i) by any of the means described in (b),

(ii) by personally serving it on the corporation's manager, agent or officer transacting business on behalf of the corporation in Alberta, or

(iii) by sending the document by registered mail or signed courier receipt to the registered office of the corporation.

(e) upon a partnership or joint venture, by any of the means described in (b),

(f) upon a governing body, by any of the means described in (b), and

(g) upon the Crown in right of Alberta,

(i) by personally serving the Public Service Commissioner,

(ii) by delivering it to the office of the Public Service Commissioner,

(iii) by sending the document by registered mail or signed courier receipt to the office of the Public Service Commissioner, or

(iv) by transmitting the document by telecopier to the office of the Public Service Commissioner, provided that verbal notice of the transmission is given to a person at his office.

[amended April, 1999]

(a) in any manner in which service of a document is permitted by these Rules, or

(b) to a trade union, employer or employers' organization, by transmitting the information by telecopier to the attention of a responsible official at the official's place of business, provided that verbal notice of the transmission is given to a person at the receiving location forthwith.

(c) in any other manner the Board deems appropriate and directs.

[amended October 2006]

Posting and direction

14. (1) Without restricting the foregoing and in particular Rule 12, the Board may give notice to an employer, employee or group of employees by posting or causing to be posted one or more written notices at the workplace or elsewhere, in an area where the notice is reasonably likely, in the opinion of the Board or an officer, to come to the attention of the employer, the employee or a reasonable number of employees in the group.

[amended October 2006]

[amended January, 1998]

15. (1) Where service by telecopier transmission is proved, the document will be presumed to have been served

(a) on the date that the copy was transmitted, if it is transmitted before or during the recipient's normal business hours, or

(b) on the recipient's first business day following the date that the copy was transmitted, if it is transmitted at any other time.

(2) Where the Board gives verbal notice of a proceeding, notice will be deemed to have been given on the date of the verbal communication notwithstanding that a written confirmation is given at a later date.

(3) Where service is effected by mail, the document will be deemed to have been served on the date of receipt or seven (7) days after the date of mailing, whichever first occurs.

16. Where a party is represented by an agent in collective bargaining, or by a solicitor or agent in a proceeding before the Board,

(a) notice to the solicitor or agent of anything in relation to the bargaining or proceeding is effective notice to the party, and

(b) the solicitor or agent shall be deemed to have authority to accept service of any document in relation to the bargaining or proceeding on behalf of the party, unless the solicitor or agent declines to accept service and, as soon as reasonably practical, advises all other parties and the Board that the solicitor or agent is instructed not to accept service.

17. A solicitor ceasing to act for a party in respect of a proceeding shall, upon request of the Board, provide an alternate address or last known address for service upon the party and, thereafter, service at that address is effective service upon the party.

18. Where the Board is satisfied that ordinary methods of service have been or are likely to be ineffective or impractical, the Board may direct substitutional service by posting, advertisement or otherwise, and service according to that direction will be deemed to be effective service.

20. Where the Board initiates a proceeding to revoke the bargaining rights of a trade union pursuant to section 55 of the Code, and it is satisfied from its investigation or from its inability to effect service that an affected trade union, employer or employers' organization is no longer in existence, it may dispense with service or notice to that affected party.

21. (1) In any proceeding before the Board, service may be effected upon the Board in the same manner as upon a party, or by delivering the document to the Edmonton or Calgary office of the Board directed to the attention of the Director of Settlement.

(2) Where a document is delivered to an office of the Board the time and date of delivery shall be stamped thereon by a representative of the Board and the time and date marked shall be presumed to be the time and date at which the document was received.

PART IV: INQUIRIES AND INVESTIGATION

22. (1) Upon receiving an application, reference or complaint, the Director of Settlement may do one or more of the following things:

(a) determine whether the application, reference or complaint, or any reply thereto, complies with these Rules,

(b) determine whether the application, reference, complaint or reply is sufficiently particularized to inform the Board and affected parties of the substance of the proceeding or reply,

(c) direct that further and better particulars be provided,

(d) direct that any failure to comply with these Rules be rectified,

(e) direct that notice be given to any person the Director considers to be affected by a proceeding,

(f) prescribe time limits for compliance with any direction given under this Rule,

(g) direct an officer of the Board to conduct an investigation into the matter,

(h) direct that an officer of the Board undertake efforts to assist the parties to a proceeding to settle the matter,

(i) at any time where a matter is not finally settled, refer a matter or a part thereof to the Chair for a direction pursuant to Rule 24,

(j) where the Chair has referred a matter to a panel for hearing, set the date and place of the hearing,

(k) where an application is for reconsideration of a decision, order, directive, declaration or ruling of the Board, invite submissions by the affected parties as to whether it is appropriate for the Board to reconsider the matter,

(l) where a matter has been set for hearing, and upon consent of all the affected parties, adjourn the hearing, or

(m) do any thing or make any direction that the Director considers necessary to properly define the issues in dispute or to expedite the hearing of the matter by the Board.

(2) A person objecting to a determination or direction of the Director of Settlement may refer the objection, with reasons therefore, to the Board and the Board may confirm, reverse or vary the determination or direction.

23. Where a matter is referred to the Chair by the Director of Settlement, the Chair may

(a) make any direction that the Director of Settlement is authorized to make by Rule 22,

(b) direct the matter to a panel of the Board for informal resolution pursuant to section 11 of the Code, or

(c) direct the matter to a panel of the Board for disposition or hearing.

24. Where a proceeding has been disposed of by the Board or settled by the parties and the party commencing the proceeding subsequently makes the same or substantially the same application, reference or complaint, the Board may consider the matter to be without merit and may dismiss the matter pursuant to section 16(4)(e) of the Code.

25. An organization that has previously been found by the Board to be a trade union or employers' organization shall, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be deemed to be a trade union or employers' organization in respect to any subsequent proceeding.

26. (1) Where an officer of the Board has investigated a matter and has issued a report of the investigation, the Board may consider the officer's report to be evidence of the facts found therein and may dispose of the matter on the basis of such evidence unless contrary evidence is adduced.

(2) An affected party may object to the Officer's Report. A party objects by filing a written statement, with reasons for objecting. The party must send its objections to the Board and the other parties within the time limits set by the Director of Settlement.

(3) If the Board finds it appropriate in the circumstances, it may allow a shorter period to file objections.

27. (1) A person intending to intervene in a proceeding may appoint a representative in writing to appear at a hearing on the person's behalf.

(2) Any person or representative of a person intending to intervene in a proceeding by appearing at a hearing shall give a verbal or written notice to the Board of that person's intention to appear at least one full business day before the scheduled commencement of the hearing.

(3) If a person fails to comply with subsection (2), or having given notice of intention to appear fails to appear, the Board may deem the intervention to be abandoned and proceed to dispose of the application.

28. (1) Where the officer of the Board investigating an application to revoke the bargaining rights of a trade union issues a report concluding that a petition is a voluntary expression of the wishes of employees signing it, Rule 26 applies and the party objecting to the finding has the burden of establishing the contrary.

(2) Where a party objects to the officer's findings, a witness or witnesses for the petitioning employees must testify in support of the petition and the objecting party may cross-examine those witnesses on the matters raised by the objection.

(3) Where the officer does not conclude that the petition is a voluntary expression of employee wishes, the onus is on the petitioning employees to establish the fact by evidence.

PART V: INFORMAL RESOLUTION

29. Where an officer of the Board engages in efforts to assist the parties to a proceeding to settle a matter or matters in dispute and the dispute is not finally settled thereby, any report issued by the officer that discloses details of the settlement discussions shall be issued only to the parties and the Director of Settlement, and such report shall be neither disclosed to any Board panel hearing the matters remaining in dispute nor introduced or accepted as evidence in any hearing into those matters without the consent of all parties to the proceeding.

30. Where the Chair assigns a matter to a member or panel of the Board for informal resolution under section 11 of the Code, the member or panel may determine the procedure to be followed in respect of the informal resolution proceedings.

31. (1) Where a member or panel of the Board appointed under section 11 of the Code holds a hearing or engages in efforts to assist the parties to a proceeding to settle a matter or matters in dispute, the member or panel shall advise the Director of Settlement that

(a) the dispute has been settled,

(b) the dispute has not been settled, or

(c) the dispute has not been settled and the member or panel has issued a report to the parties.

(2) A report issued to the parties pursuant to section 11 of the Code may contain the recommendation of the member or panel as to what ought to be done to resolve the matters remaining in dispute.

32. (1) If the dispute to which a member or panel is appointed under section 11 of the Code is not settled and no report has been made to the parties, the matter shall be set down for hearing before the Board.

(2) Where a member or panel makes a report to the parties, the member or panel shall seal the report and remit it to the Director of Settlement.

(3) Either party may apply to the Director of Settlement to have the report of the member or panel issued as a formal order of the Board.

(4) Where a party applies to have a report issued as an order of the Board sub-section (3), the Director of Settlement shall give notice of the application to affected parties and shall require the affected parties to respond to the application by a date fixed by the Director of Settlement.

(5) If no affected party objects to the application by the date fixed for response, the Director of Settlement shall unseal the report of the member or panel and remit the application and report to the Board for determination.

(6) If an affected party objects to the application by the date fixed for response, the Director of Settlement shall not unseal the report but shall set the matter for hearing before the Board, and the matter shall be dealt with as a matter not settled by the member or panel pursuant to Rule 33(1).

33. (1) A hearing by the Board of a matter not settled by a member or panel appointed under section 11 of the Code shall be a hearing de novo.

(2) A report or recommendation of a member or panel appointed under section 11 of the Code shall not be introduced as evidence by a party to a hearing de novo without the consent of all parties to the proceeding.

(3) No member appointed under section 11 of the Code shall sit on a panel hearing the matter de novo without the consent of all parties to the proceeding.

PART VI: HEARINGS

34. At any point during a proceeding, the Board may do any thing that the Director of Settlement is empowered to do by Rule 22, and without restricting the power of the Board generally to determine its procedure may

(a) adjourn or postpone any hearing for such time and upon such conditions as it may consider advisable, or

(b) direct that a proceeding be consolidated with any other proceeding before the Board and issue such directions in respect of the conduct of the consolidated proceeding as it may consider advisable.

Pre-hearing conference

35. In any case where the Chair or a Vice-Chair considers it advisable, the Chair or Vice-Chair may convene a pre-hearing conference with the parties to expedite the proceedings and may direct the procedure to be followed in respect of such pre-hearing conference.

36. (1) An application to the Board for an order to issue a notice to attend or a notice to attend and produce documents for a hearing before the Board shall

[amended March, 1998]

(2) A notice to attend or a notice to attend and produce documents directed to an individual shall be personally served on the witness.

(3) A party may apply for a notice to attend and produce documents to issue in the name of a corporation, trade union, or employer's organization.

(4) A notice to attend and produce documents issued in the name of a corporation, trade union, or employers' organization may be served by any of the means described in Rule 11(b).

(5) Unless otherwise agreed between them, the party receiving a notice identified in Rule 36(2) shall provide to the witness in advance of the hearing:

(a) conduct money of $25.00 for each day, or any portion of that day, that the party requires the person's attendance, and

(b) transportation arrangements to and from the hearing or, in its place,

(i) an allowance for air, bus or train fare by the most direct route, or

(ii) mileage costs for private vehicle use at $0.43 per kilometre, and

(c) arrangements for overnight lodging of reasonable quality or an allowance of $110.00 per night, and

(d) a meal allowance of $8.50 per breakfast, $10.75 per lunch and $19.20 per supper.

[amended February, 2007]

Any dispute over the application of this sub-Rule may be decided by the Director of Settlement.

37. Where all parties to a proceeding have agreed to adjourn a proceeding sine die, the proceeding shall be deemed to be withdrawn at the expiry of six months from the date the adjournment was granted unless during that period of time a party has requested that the Board schedule the matter for further hearing, or unless the Board otherwise orders.

PART VII: FILING OF INFORMATION

38. Where a trade union or registered employers' organization that is a party to a proceeding fails to file documents or information or changes thereto as required by section 24 or section 164 of the Code or section 4 of the Act, the Board may dispose of a matter before it on the basis of the most recent documents or information, if any, filed by that party.

PART VIII: BARGAINING UNIT DESCRIPTIONS

39. (1) Where the Board issues a certificate in respect of employees engaged in the construction industry, or in respect of employees engaged in maintenance work, the territorial scope of the bargaining unit shall be presumed to be the territorial scope of the trade union's jurisdiction unless the certificate provides otherwise.

(2) Where the Board issues a certificate to a trade union in respect of employees engaged in the construction industry, or in respect of employees engaged in maintenance work, for a bargaining unit occupying a geographical area smaller than the territorial jurisdiction of the trade union, it may describe the bargaining unit by reference to the number of one of the geographical zones described in Schedule A to these Rules.

PART IX: PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEE
RELATIONS ACT PROCEEDINGS

40. Where a party applies for a determination under section 3(2)(o) or (p) of the Act whether an employee is included in or excluded from a bargaining unit, the employer shall provide the Board with

(i) the particular provisions of section 12(1) of the Act, if any, that it relies upon to exclude the employee from the bargaining unit,

(ii) the current position description of any person affected by the application, and

(iii) any current organizational chart relating to the position held by a person affected by the application.

41. A party applying to the Board to appoint a mediator under section 28 of the Act shall include with the application

(a) a description of the bargaining unit in respect of which the application is made,

(b) a copy of the most recent collective agreement, if any,

(c) details of the date on which notice to commence collective bargaining was given and the steps that have been taken to bargain collectively, including the dates of all meetings held, and

(d) particulars of the items which the party applying considers to be in dispute.

42. (1) A party applying to the Board to appoint a compulsory arbitration board under section 32 of the Act shall include with the application

(a) a description of the bargaining unit in respect of which the application is made,

(b) a copy of the most recent collective agreement, if any,

(c) details of the date on which notice to commence collective bargaining was given and the steps that have been taken to bargain collectively, including the dates of all meetings held, and

(d) a list of the items which the party applying considers to be in dispute.

(2) A party responding to an application to appoint a compulsory arbitration board shall, within ten days of being served with the application, file with the Board a list of any additional items which it considers to be in dispute.

(3) At least 72 hours before the hearing the applicant and respondent shall each exchange with the other and file with the Board a list identifying the items in dispute which it considers to be non-arbitral according to section 30(2) of the Act.

(4) The applicant and respondent shall jointly file at the hearing six copies of a summary of their bargaining positions on the items claimed to be in dispute. The summary shall be in the form of a three-column spreadsheet setting out the language of the existing collective agreement, the proposal of the union and the last proposal of the employer with respect to each item claimed in dispute.

43. (1) A party applying to the Board to appoint a member or chair to an arbitration board under Part 7 of the Act shall do so in writing.

(a) a copy of the collective agreement under which the difference originates,

(b) the name of the grievor, if applicable,

(c) a description of the difference, and

(d) the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the applicant, the respondent and their nominees, if applicable.

(3) The application shall not include a list of the persons considered for the appointment and rejected by the parties or their nominees.

SCHEDULE A

Zone 1:     That part of the province of Alberta north of the north city limits of Red Deer in a straight line east to Saskatchewan and west to British Columbia.

Zone 2:      That part of the province of Alberta south of the north city limits of Red Deer in a straight line east to Saskatchewan and west to British Columbia.

Zone 3:      That part of the province of Alberta north of the north line of Township 11 to the north boundary line of Township 38.

Zone 4:      That part of the province of Alberta south of the south boundary line of Township 37.

Zone 5:      That part of the province of Alberta north of the south boundary line of Township 37.

Zone 6:      That part of the province of Alberta south of the north boundary line of Township 39.

Zone 7:      That part of the province of Alberta north of the north boundary line of Township 39.