Settlement comes nearly 20 years after worker filed case
After more than a decade of a legal battle, a former public servant has won a settlement of $1.5 million from the federal government, according to a recent report.
The worker – Chris Hughes – worked for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) between 1995 and 2005.
The worker suffers from depression that he says was brought on after he blew the whistle on age discrimination at the CBSA and an illegal practice by a colleague at the CRA.
The worker was “forced to resign” from those government bodies “as part of a settlement,” said the National Post, citing the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
Previously, a woman in Winnipeg complained about a sexist atmosphere in the workplace. Nine years later, she was awarded $175,000 in compensation, minus some deductions, by her former employer.
Applications with Transport Canada
Following his tenure at the CBSA and CRA, Hughes applied for four positions at Transport Canada between 2005 and 2007. During the job interviews, he revealed his depression. He did not get any of those jobs.
In 2007, Hughes filed a case against the federal government with the tribunal, alleging discrimination on the basis of mental disability, according to the National Post.
A 2014 tribunal decision by member Robert Malo found the “subtle scent of discrimination” existed regarding Hughes’ 2005 application to Transport Canada for a job as a marine intelligence officer.
Hughes “maintained that there had been lots of evidence at the time to show that the complainant was detail-oriented. He had submitted a package of information to show that he was, and there was a note therein that pointed to detail-oriented behaviour,” read part of the decision.
The tribunal found that Ms. S. Wood, a member of the Selection Board for the Analyst competition, had “brushed aside” all the Hughes’ documents “which contained various comments demonstrating some aspects of the complainant’s capacity to be detail-oriented”.
A 2019 tribunal decision on the case awarded Hughes around $518,000 from Transport Canada. The money was paid, but the government also sought judicial review of the tribunal decision, according to the National Post.
In 2022, the federal government settled with Hughes, with Ottawa agreeing to pay him $1.535 million.
All in all, Hughes has been paid around $2.4 million in settlements, according to the report.
Accommodations for mental health disorders can not be used as a “get out of jail free card,” a recent decision by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal (HRT) affirmed.
