Law360 Canada (April 19, 2024, 2:45 PM EDT) -- Appeals by Société des casinos du Québec inc. (Société) and Attorney General of Quebec from a judgment of the Quebec Court of Appeal restoring a judgment declaring s. 1(l)(1) of the Labour Code (Code) constitutionally inoperable against the Association des cadres de la Société des casinos du Québec (Association) and its members. Operations supervisors, employed by the Société, were members of the Association. Operations supervisors acted as first-level managers in the Société’s five levels of management. The Association’s goal has always been to secure recognition from the Société to represent those first-level managers. The Association filed a petition for certification with the Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT). In its petition, the Association asked that the exclusion of managers from the definition of “employee” set out in s. 1(l)(1) of the Code be declared constitutionally inoperable against the Association and its members. The ALT declared that the section was of no force or effect in the context of the Association’s petition because it infringed the freedom of association guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) and the Charter of human rights and freedoms. The Superior Court allowed the application for judicial review filed by the Société and declared the provision constitutionally applicable, valid and operative. The Court of Appeal allowed the Association’s appeal and restored the ALT’s decision subject to a 12-month suspension of the declaration of inoperability of s. 1(l)(1) of the Code. The Association argued that its members’ statutory exclusion from the protections of the Labour Code prevented them from engaging in a process of meaningful collective bargaining with their employer....