2010 – Present – Member - National Academy of Arbitrators

Books, Publications, Papers and Conferences

Please see Peter's publications page on this website.

Reported Decisions

Peter has over 200 employment and labour law Decisions reported in several law reporting services, including the Labour Arbitration Cases ( L.A.C.) reporting service, the CanLII Reporting Service, Quicklaw, the Canadian Bankruptcy Reports at 14 C.B.R. (5th) 141, the Ontario Labour Relations Board Reports (O.L.R.B. Rep.) and the Ontario Labour Relations Digest (OLRD).

Appointments

In 2004 Peter was selected to act as a Mediator and Arbitrator to mediate and adjudicate essential services agreements and other issues pertaining to the negotiations between the Province of Ontario and OPSEU for the renewal of the province-wide Ontario Public Service Collective Agreement. A new Collective Agreement between the Province and OPSEU was achieved without a province wide strike.

Peter is consensually appointed by private parties as a Mediator and/or Arbitrator to resolve disputes in numerous Collective Agreements, including: (1) the Province Wide Collective Agreement between Serco Des Inc. (the provincial driving examiners) and the United Steelworkers; (2) Toyota Canada and the CAW, and; (3) Remco Transport and UNITE HERE.

Peter is appointed under the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act as a Workload Resolution Arbitrator to mediate and/or adjudicate disputes between College Professors and the Colleges of Ontario.

Education

Memberships and Associations

• The Law Society of Upper Canada
• The Ontario Labour-Management Arbitrators Association

Summary

For 19 years, from 1985 to 2004, Peter Chauvin practiced law exclusively in the specialty areas of employment law and labour relations, including the areas of: the law pertaining to employment contracts, wrongful dismissal, labour arbitration, employment standards, human rights, health and safety, pay equity and workplace safety and insurance.

Peter practiced in and is experienced in all areas of the employment spectrum, including the private, the public, the health, the municipal, the industrial, and the construction sectors of the employment law field.

Peter was counsel in various forms of litigation. Peter acted as advisor and spokesperson in connection with various employment law and labour relations matters. Peter also acted as lead spokesperson in negotiations and in collective bargaining.

In 2004 Peter accepted an appointment to the Ontario Labour Relations Board as a full-time Vice-Chair to pursue a career as a neutral mediator, arbitrator and adjudicator, sitting on both the construction and non-construction panels.

At this time Peter also commenced accepting requests to act as a consensually and privately appointed mediator and/or arbitrator to resolve disputes regarding all aspects of the employment relationship, including wrongful dismissals, all manner of labour arbitrations, construction and non-construction grievances, interest arbitrations and other labour and employment law matters.

In 2007, due to the demands of his private arbitration and mediation practice, Peter relinquished his full-time appointment as a Vice-Chair of the Labour Board and accepted an appointment as a part-time Vice-Chair of the Labour Board. Peter sat as a part-time Vice-Chair of the Labour Board, as his private mediation and arbitration schedule permitted, until 2012. In 2012 Peter accepted an appointment as a Vice-Chair of the Crown Employees Grievance Settlement Board.

In his capacities as an arbitrator, mediator and Vice-Chair, Peter has mediated, adjudicated and/or arbitrated hundreds of disputes, and written over 200 decisions.

Over the course of his career, Peter has acquired a sound understanding of the law and the issues that arise in the workplace. Peter understands the interests of employees, unions and management. In addition to this, Peter has completed mediation training, has effective mediation skills, and practices mediation in a manner that the parties respect and appreciate. In view of all of this, Peter is able to resolve complex employment law disputes in an efficient, effective and productive manner.