Fair Decision-Making

Fairness in decision-making means that the process for making the decision is fair. This is called procedural fairness. It does not mean that the decision itself is necessarily fair. For example, the law says that a landlord can evict a renter if they are more than 15 days behind in their rent. A renter who just lost their job may not view this as fair, but procedural fairness only deals with the decision-making process, not the outcome.

There are several ways that the decision-maker can meet procedural fairness requirements. Different factors play into the level of procedural fairness required, such as:

• the importance of the decision to the individual
• the type of decision being made
• the process used to make the decision
• whether there is a right to appeal the decision

For example, a final decision that could result in someone being deported from Canada or losing their job requires a higher level of procedural fairness. On the other hand, decisions that result in a recommendation for how to handle things going forward require a lower level of procedural fairness.

You have the right to tell your side of the story but that does not always mean there must be a hearing before a decision can be made.

Where the required level of procedural fairness is low, you may not have a right to tell your story in person. For example, you might only be able to provide the decision-maker with a written application when applying for a licence. When the required level of procedural fairness is high, it is more likely that you will have the right to a hearing to tell your side of the story.

You must be informed that a decision is going to be made that may affect you and its consequences. Sometimes this is obvious from the process used to reach a decision about your case. For example, if you submit a form to apply for a benefit, you know that a decision will be made about your eligibility.

In other situations, you may be entitled to written notification about a decision being made. For example, if the Office of Residential Tenancies holds a hearing involving you, you will receive a written notice stating when and where the hearing will take place. The notification must also clearly set out what is being decided.

You must be told what information will be used to make the decision and have a chance to review that information. This is called disclosure. The level of procedural fairness also affects the required level of disclosure. If a high level of procedural fairness is required, a high level of disclosure will be required. Some situations require a certain amount of secrecy. In these cases, the information might only be partially disclosed or not at all.

A decision-maker must tell you why they decided the way they did. Like other rights to procedural fairness, how the reasons are provided and the detail required depend on the situation. In some cases, written reasons may be required.

You have the right to an have an impartial decision-maker make the decision. If a reasonable and informed person would view the decision-maker as biased, then they are not impartial. There are several reasons why a decision-maker may not be considered impartial, such as when the decision-maker:

• has a connection to one of the parties
• was previously involved in the case
• stands to benefit if they decide the case a certain way
• makes comments that show they may have decided the case before even hearing your side
• appears to be prejudiced against one of the parties