Sarah Atkinson is a labour arbitrator and employment law mediator. Sarah recently completed the Ontario Arbitrator Development Program, is an arbitrator with the Grievance Settlement Board and is on the Minister of Labour’s list of approved grievance arbitrators.

At the outset of her legal career, Sarah practiced as in-house union counsel and subsequently in private practice on management side. Before launching her arbitration and mediation practice, Sarah practiced for many years as an independent workplace investigator. Sarah has decades of experience conducting independent, neutral investigations into workplace issues, in both public and private sectors in Ontario and the federal sector. She was appointed to three terms as a member of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and is a seasoned mediator, facilitator, and trainer in workplace matters. Over the past two years, Sarah has taken on a part-time role with the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, where she has brought her workplace experience to bear in designing and managing a broad complaints framework in the field of sport.

Sarah is bilingual (English and French), has conducted multiple investigations and mediations in a combination of both languages, and was called to the Bar in Québec from 1994 to 2011. Sarah is a member of the Ontario Labour-Management Arbitrators’ Association (OLMAA), the Ontario Bar Association (Labour & Employment, and ADR Sections), and the Law Society of Upper Canada.