Alberta Labour Relations Board - Union matters for employees, employers and employer organizations.

The Alberta Labour Relations Board operations are closed December 24 to January 1.

Our offices will reopen on January 2, 2025.

Our website is currently being migrated to a new platform. During this time, some pages may not act as expected.

Please contact us directly at 780-422-5926 to obtain the information you require. Thank you.

The Board’s Edmonton and Calgary office reception hours are changing.

Offices are open to walk-in clients from 8:15 am – 4:00 pm.

This change does not affect any timelines in the Board’s Guidelines for Email Filings.

Any application received after 4:00 pm, regardless of the filing method used, will be deemed to be received the next business day.

Operational hours remain 8:15 am to 4:30 pm for inquiries by phone or email.

A N N O U N C E M E N T S

Effective January 1, 2024, the Board is adopting neutral citations for all its decisions, including decisions it issues as the Appeal Body under the Employment Standards Code and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Decisions under the Labour Relations Code, the Public Service Employee Relations Act, and the Police Officers Collective Bargaining Act will be cited in sequential order in the following format: 2024 ALRB 1.

Decisions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act will be cited in sequential order in the following format: 2024 ABOHSAB 1.

Decisions under the Employment Standards Act will be cited in sequential order in the following format: 2024 ABESAB 1.

The Edmonton Labour Relations Board moved in 2023. Our new address is:

Alberta Labour Relations Board
Commerce Place
Suite 640, 10155 102 Street
Edmonton, AB T5J 4G8

The Board has revised its Voting Rules to allow for electronic voting. Additional information about the Board’s electronic voting processes can be found in the recently revised Information Bulletin #14 (Representation Votes); Information Bulletin #15 (Proposal Votes) and Information Bulletin #16 (Strike and Lockout Votes).

The Board has amended Rules, 2, 4, 22, 23 and 35 of its Rules of Procedure. These amendments address delegation powers (Rule 2); a new mandatory form for reconsideration applications seeking to challenge a Board decision (Rule 4); and updates to the Director of Settlement’s powers (Rule 22), References to Chair or Vice-Chair (Rule 23), and Pre-hearing conferences (Rule 25).

Revised Information Bulletin #6
Applications for Reconsideration, Judicial Review, and Stays

Parties filing a reconsideration application to challenge a Board decision must now use a mandatory form: Application for Reconsideration

The Board has updated Information Bulletin #18: The Duty of Fair Representation to provide information about recent decisions interpreting section 153(3.1) of the Labour Relations Code, which allows the Board to summarily dismiss duty of fair representation complaints where a complainant has refused a fair and reasonable settlement offer.

New Transitional Bulletin Coming into Force August 1, 2022
#27 Election of Union Dues and Financial Disclosure

The transitional version of this Bulletin contains information and key dates regarding election of union dues and union financial disclosure obligations, and it sets out the Board’s processes for addressing disputes about union dues elections and financial disclosure.

Please be advised that effective July 4, 2022, the Board will be resuming in-person votes for some matters. Please note that the ability to do in person votes is currently restricted by our resources. This means that some votes, particularly those outside of Edmonton or Calgary, may still need to be conducted via mail in ballot. The Board retains the discretion to determine how all votes will be conducted.

The Board is actively working towards using electronic voting as a means to conduct votes. We are hopeful that this option will be available within the next couple of months.

Important Update About Board Hearings -
New Scheduling Presumptions Effective September 1, 2022

Effective September 1, 2022, the Board will conduct some of its hearings in-person, and some of its hearings remotely (“Remote Proceedings”) using the Zoom platform.

The Board has updated Information Bulletin #4: Board Hearings to reflect these changes. Please review this bulletin for more detailed information about Board hearings.

Effective September 1, 2022, the following proceedings will be presumptively scheduled as Remote Proceedings:

All proceedings not identified above will be presumptively scheduled as in-person proceedings.

In some cases, a party may seek to rebut the presumption that a matter proceed remotely or in-person. The process for doing so will be described in the hearing scheduling letter, and may require a Case Management Meeting. A party seeking to rebut a scheduling presumption will need to put forward a clear and compelling rationale for doing so.

Where all parties in a proceeding that is presumptively scheduled as an in-person proceeding would prefer that the matter proceed remotely, they may write to the Director of Settlement to confirm their agreement in this regard and request a Remote Proceeding.

In all cases, the final decision about whether a matter proceeds in-person or remotely rests with the Board.

Procedures for Remote Proceedings
Remote Proceedings, including rules relating to documents and exhibits, are governed by the Board’s Guidelines for Remote Proceedings. Parties and participants are expected to comply with those Guidelines.

Procedures for In-Person Hearings
Please see Information Bulletin #4, which contains more detailed information about in-person hearings.

Hearings that are currently scheduled as Remote Proceedings, or that are scheduled to proceed before September 1, 2022, will continue as Remote Proceedings, unless the Board directs otherwise.

Update re Information Bulletin #11
Bargaining Units in the Construction Industry and Building Trades

Effective December 1, 2021, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, SA 2017 c O-2.1 is repealed and the new Occupational Health and Safety Act, SA 2020 c O-2.2 is proclaimed in force. Pursuant to the transitional provisions contained in the new legislation, appeals that are not disposed of before December 1, 2021 will, subject to section 74(2) of the new legislation, continue to be addressed in accordance with the previous OHS legislation.

Section 11 of the Labour Relations Code - Changes
to Rules of Procedure and Information Bulletin #2

Effective January 1, 2021, the Board is changing its filing deadline from 4:30 PM to 4:00 PM. This change applies to all methods of filing materials with the Board (i.e. fax, delivery, email).

The Board has recently begun accepting applications, complaints, and references under the Labour Relations Code, and appeals under the Occupational Health and Safety Act via email. As a result of this change, the Board has developed Guidelines for Email Filing and Email Communications, which include naming conventions, and other procedures and best practices for submitting material to the Board via email. The Guidelines will be incorporated into a revised version of Information Bulletin #2 at a later date.

Effective January 1, 2021, the deadline for filing materials with the Board will change from 4:30 PM to 4:00 PM.

Mediation Services is pleased to introduce a new Grievance Mediation program to assist unions and employers to resolve grievances. Follow this link for further information.