Québec arbitrator under Canada Labour Code finds psychiatrists, but not psychologists, can diagnose gambling addiction. Could this happen in Ontario?
SYNDICAT DES EMPLOYÉS DES INSTALLATIONS PORTUAIRES, TCA, section locale 1946 et RIO TINTO ALCAN INC., INSTALLATIONS PORTUAIRES (AZ-50850462) is a case in which the grievor had been terminated for fraud and embezzlement (to the tune of roughly $480,000) and raised an alleged gambling addiction to contest the termination.
The union sought to have a psychologist give an expert opinion to establish that the grievor had a gambling addiction. The employer objected to the union’s raising the issue without providing an expert medical opinion prepared by a psychiatrist.
In a prehearing conference, the union had undertaken to provide the employer with the diagnoses of the grievor’s treating physicians in relation to the alleged gambling addiction as well as the report of any psychiatrist who had examined the grievor.
The union later gave the employer a complete copy of the grievor’s medical file in relation to the therapy he received following his dismissal. In the context of that therapy the grievor’s family doctor diagnosed him with a gambling addiction. However, the union never provided an expert psychiatric report as it had promised. Instead, the union gave the employer the report of a psychologist who concluded that the grievor suffered from a gambling addiction.
