When Sorry Is Not the Hardest Word – Apology And Gift Card Bring Human Rights Complaint To An End
By: Michelle QuinnThe Facts
In Duke v. Sobey’s, 2018 BCHRT 283, Brianne Duke (“Ms. Duke”) filed a human rights complaint against Sobey’s West Inc. (“Sobey’s”) after one of its employees approached Ms. Duke while she was grocery shopping and told her an inappropriate joke referencing sex. She alleged that this behaviour amounted to discrimination on the basis of sex contrary to section 8 of the BC Human Rights Code (the “Code”).
Prior to her complaint to the BC Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”), Ms. Duke had sent a letter to Sobey’s describing what happened to her at the store and she requested an apology and gift card totalling $250.
Sobey’s promptly conducted an investigation into the incident, and disciplined the employee who acknowledged that the joke was inappropriate. Within less than two weeks of the incident, Sobey’s sent Ms. Duke an email with an apology and offered to provide her with a $250 gift, as she had requested.
The Decision
Sobey’s applied to the Tribunal to have Ms. Duke’s human rights complaint dismissed. The question before the Tribunal Member was whether the actions by Sobey’s were sufficient to remedy the complaint such that it would not further the purposes of the Code to proceed, or did the Code require the Tribunal to take further action.
Sobey’s argued, amongst other things, that its response was “proportionate and reasonable”, and that it would not further the purposes of the Code for Tribunal resources to be taken up with this complaint that had been adequately addressed.
Ms. Duke’s complaint was dismissed. The Tribunal Member concluded that Sobey’s did an immediate investigation, determined that the event occurred, disciplined the employee, and provided Ms. Duke with what she asked for; $250 gift card and an apology:
If you have any questions regarding this decision, please contact either myself or Nicole Mangan
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Employers Beware – if you are contemplating retracting an offer of employment from a potential candidate you might want to think again in light of the recent B.C. court decision of Buchanan v. Introjunction Ltd., 2017 BCSC 1002. In this case, the B.C. Supreme Court found that the plaintiff employee was wrongfully dismissed when his employment was terminated shortly after his contract of employment with the defendant employer was executed but before he actually started work. The Court awarded him 6 weeks’ severance pay.
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The Trudeau government made good on its promise to extend parental leave from 12 to 18 months. Initially, this promise only applied to workers in federally regulated workplaces. However, on April 6, 2018, the BC Government introduced Bill 6, Employment Standards Amendment Act 2018 which will amend the BC Employment Standards Act (the “ESA”). Some of the proposed changes relate to maternity and parental leave. On May 17, 2018, Bill 6 came into force by Royal Assent. My colleague, Nicole Mangan, and I sum up these key legislative changes.
