Case number: 111
Article number: model arbitration law / 1(1); 8(1)
Thessaurs issue:
Country of decision: Canada
Year of decision: 1994
Type of decision: Judicial decision

Case 111: MAL 1(1); 8(1)
Canada: Alberta Court of Queen's Bench (Murray J.) 12 August 1994
Borowski v. Heinrich Fiedler Perforiertechnik GmbH
Published in English: (1994) 158 Alberta Reports, 213; and [1994] 10 Western Weekly Reports, 623

The plaintiff, an employee of the defendant, sued for damages in lieu of notice of termination of the employment contract and for loss of wages and benefits. The defendant sought a stay of proceedings and submission of the dispute to arbitration, since the employment contract contained an arbitration clause.

The court found that, with regard to the claim for past wages and benefits, there was no dispute to be referred to arbitration, since the defendant had admitted that it owed the plaintiff for past wages and benefits. With regard to damages in lieu of notice of termination, the court found that that was a dispute covered by the arbitration clause, stayed the court proceedings and referred the matter to arbitration.

On the question whether the International Commercial Arbitration Act (I.C.A.A.), which enacted MAL, could apply to a dispute arising from an employment contract, the court held that such a contract created a master and servant relationship and not a commercial relationship of the type falling under the I.C.A.A. (section 4(2) I.C.A.A., which is equivalent to article 1(1) MAL).