Status of the Artist Act Part-Unfair Labour Practice Complaints

• The Status of the Artist Act (the Act) contains several obligations and prohibitions which apply to artists, artists’ associations, producers, and producers’ associations. A producer under the Act is a federal government department or broadcasting organization. For a full list of federal government departments, click here. Examples of federally regulated producers include radio and television broadcasters.  
• The goal is to prevent artists, artists’ associations, producers, and producers’ associations from interfering with the artists’ association/producer relationship. These prohibited acts are called unfair labour practices. 
• These prohibited acts or a violation of one or more of these obligations can be the subject of a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board (the Board).
   

• Some examples of unfair labour practices that can result in complaints against producers or producers’ associations include:
  • bargaining in bad faith or not making enough efforts to enter into a scale agreement;
  • bargaining with an artists’ association when another artists’ association already represents the sector;
  • refusing to engage an artist or honour their contract, discriminating against an artist, or intimidating an artist because they are a member of an artists’ association or because they are promoting membership in an artists’ association;
  • discriminating against, intimidating, threatening, or disciplining an artist because they exercised their rights under the Act;
  • intimidating or penalizing an artist, or preventing an artist from exercising rights under the Act;
  • terminating a contract or penalizing an artist because the artist refuses to do the work of another artist who is participating in pressure tactics; 
  • intimidating or penalizing an artist to pressure them to not become a member of an artists’ association or to end their membership in an artists’ association; or
  • terminating, penalizing, or disciplining an artist for refusing to do something that the Act does not allow.

• Complaints must be filed with the Board within six months of the date that the complainant first knew or should have known of the act or events leading to the complaint. 
• Complaints may be filed after the end of the six-month period if the complainant asks the Board for, and the Board allows, more time for the complaint to be filed.

• The Board will send the person or organization who made the complaint (the complainant) and the person or organization named in the complaint (the respondent) a letter confirming that it has received the complaint.   
• If either of these parties has hired a representative, such as a lawyer, the letter will be sent to the representative. It is the representative’s obligation to keep the person that they represent up to date.
• The letter will:
  • include your case file number;
  • include a copy of all documents filed by the complainant; and
  • tell you when you can file additional information and documents (submissions).
• The letter will also include the name and contact information of the Board’s Industrial Relations Officer (IRO) who will assist the Board and the parties with the complaint. 
• The IRO will answer questions that the parties have and assists the parties to reach a settlement whenever possible.   
• The letter will also advise the person or organization that the complaint is against (the respondent) of:
  • how much time they have to file a response to the complaint; and 
  • how much time the complainant will have to reply to any new facts and arguments that the respondent raises.  
    • Normally, the Board gives the respondent 15 calendar days to file a response and the complainant 10 calendar days to file a reply.  Sometimes the Board will shorten the deadlines for responding.  Make sure you read the letter that you receive from the Board.
• The response should clearly explain the respondent’s version of the facts to the Board. The response should also include any documents that the respondent has which the complainant did not file and which are relevant to the complaint.
• If you decide not to file a reply, you should write to the Board and tell it that you will not be filing one.
• You do not need to file documents that the other party has already filed.  
• The parties are responsible for filing their arguments and documents on time.
• If you need more time to file your submissions, you need to ask the Board to extend the deadline.  The Board will want to know why you are late and need more time and will only give you more time if you have a good reason.  The Board can refuse to consider any responses or replies that are filed late where an extension has not been given.

• The Board will notify you in writing of its decision.  
• The time that it takes the Board to issue a decision can vary depending on the complexity of the case. 
• All important decisions of the Board are published on the Decisions page. 
• You can consult the Board’s performance statistics for more information on the average time it takes the Board to issue a decision after a complaint is filed.

The Board’s decisions are final and can only be reviewed in very specific circumstances.

• If you believe that a Board decision is unreasonable, you can apply to the Federal Court of Appeal for judicial review; or  
• If you believe the Board has made a serious error and should correct its original decision, you can file an application for reconsideration.

In both cases, there is a strict 30 calendar day deadline to file your application from the date of the decision.   

Follow these links for more information on Applications for Reconsideration and Applications for Judicial Review.