Law Times

Page 4 May 26, 2014 • Law TiMes www.lawtimesnews.com Case management masters decry salary discrepancy Province seeks austerity, association wants parity with traditional counterparts BY Yamri Taddese Law Times s the province seeks more austerity, case management masters in Ontario are taking the government to task for paying them less than traditional masters despite do- ing the same work. In its submission to a remuner- ation commission set up to deal with the salary issue, the Masters' Association of Ontario says case management masters earn signifi- cantly less than their traditional counterparts and suggests their "financial insecurity" puts their ju- dicial independence at risk. Despite performing the same work, case management masters earn $81,227 less a year in sal- ary and $100,000 less in pensions than traditional masters, accord- ing to the association. "e association submits that the current compensation level of masters falls short of the require- ments of financial security," the as- sociation's submission reads. "Given that the salary, pension, and overall financial security of the masters are so inferior in com- parison to that of their colleagues, the traditional masters and the judges of the [Ontario Court of Justice], reasonably and objec- tively informed members of the public could think the masters as a group, as a result of their discrimi- natory treatment, are susceptible to economic manipulation, re- gardless of the objective truth." According to the association, case management masters haven't had a pay increase for three years. It says their total salary increase in the last six years has been just 1.5 per cent while traditional masters saw a nearly 13.5-per- cent boost to their remuneration over the same period. For its part, the provincial government says the pay for case management masters was the result of "an agreed-upon process between the parties" in 2011. e salary arrived at was appropriate, the government says in its submission. "From the inception of the office, the limited jurisdiction of case management masters has made the position distinct," it says in its submission, which goes on to suggest raises in line with the consumer price index in 2014 and 2015 following two years of no increases. But lawyer James Morton says the pay discrepancy be- tween traditional and case man- agement masters is more a "his- toric hangover" than a reflection of any differences in their roles. "ere's no question that today the case management masters do exactly the same kind of work as the regular masters," he says. "e only reason for the remu- neration differences is historical." While case management mas- ters had a more limited role when the government began appointing them in the 1990s, they almost immediately began doing every- thing their traditional colleagues did due to the lack of masters at the time, says Morton. e Ontario government has now stopped appointing tradi- tional masters with only two re- maining in office. Colleen Bauman, counsel for the masters' association, says she can't comment on the matter. "We will let our submissions speak for themselves," she says, adding the final oral submis- sions will take place in July. Ciaran Ganley, spokesman for the Ministry of Government Ser- vices, also declined to comment. "It would be inappropriate to comment as the parties are still before the commission," he says. e commission head, Larry Banack, will go through numer- ous submissions from the parties and others on the matter. One submission from Superior Court Master David Sandler, a tradition- al master, recommends his case management counterparts earn "exactly the same" pay. Sandler noted two case man- agement masters who do con- struction lien work do "exactly the same type of work I was do- ing as full-time construction lien master and now do as part-time construction lien master." He noted "the other 14 case management masters currently hearing civil motions, both in Toronto, and in Ottawa, and Windsor, are doing, inter alia, exactly the same work I used to do from 1977 until 1992, as a traditional civil motions master." Sandler called the salary dis- crepancies "unfair" and said: "ere is absolutely no justifica- tion for this discrepancy. "It is particularly troublesome to me when one considers that all the traditional masters were male, and that [out of ] the 16 cur- rent case management masters, seven are female (44 per cent)." Lawyer John McLeish says the role of case management masters is hugely important at a time when the courts are strug- gling to maintain the flow of cases without procedural delays. "ey work just as hard as tra- ditional masters," he says, noting that as a trial lawyer represent- ing plaintiffs, he relies heavily on case management masters to move his cases along. Ontario Bar Association pres- ident Pascale Daigneault, On- tario Trial Lawyers Association president Charles Gluckstein, and Toronto Lawyers Associa- tion president Joseph Neuberger also wrote letters asking the com- mission to abolish the difference between traditional and case management masters. "In the opinion of the TLA, there is no distinction to be drawn between the functions of case management masters and 'traditional' masters. ey all perform the same roles and, in fact, the case management masters may perform additional 'case management' functions,'" wrote Neuberger. LT NEWS The wait is almost over. Soon we'll be delivering a Canadian version of Practical Law. Practical, up-to-date content designed for the front-line Canadian lawyer. Watch for it. Learn more at www.carswell.com/practicallawcanada IT'S PRACTICALLY HERE COMING SOON – PRACTICAL LAW CANADA 00218KE-A43429 Untitled-1 1 14-05-20 12:23 PM Case management masters 'work just as hard as traditional masters,' says John McLeish. A

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