5. Prepare for your hearing

The Ontario Labour Relations Board (Labour Board) sends you a Notice of Hearing with the date, time, and place for the hearing.

Collect your evidence

The Labour Board makes a decision about your application based on the evidence at the hearing. The information in your application is not evidence.

You need to prove both of the following:

• your employer acted in a way that goes against your Employment Standards Act (ESA) rights
• this caused you to lose money or be hurt in other ways

You prove this by bringing evidence to your hearing.

Your evidence can be:

• witnesses who say what they know about events that happened or how those events affected you
• documents, for example, letters or emails from your employer

You can also bring other types of evidence. For example, you might have photographs, videos, or audio recordings that help prove your claim. The person who took the photograph or made the recording must come to the hearing.

Follow the rules about evidence

The Labour Board has detailed rules about what information you have to give about your evidence before the hearing. If you don’t follow these rules, the Labour Board can refuse to look at your evidence or reject your application without even having a hearing.

Getting a decision

Usually, the Labour Board decides after the hearing and sends you a written decision in the mail.

The Labour Board decision is usually final. If you disagree with the decision, you might be able to ask the Labour Board to “reconsider”. Or you might be able to ask Ontario’s Divisional Court to review it.

You need to get legal help to find out if there’s anything you can do.