Manitoba worker accused employer of harassment after dismissal
A woman in Winnipeg complained about a sexist atmosphere in the workplace. Nine years later, she has been offered $175,000 in compensation, minus some deductions, by her former employer.
In 2015, Gwen Jaques filed a complaint in the Manitoba Human Rights Commission against manufacturing firm Price Industries after she was dismissed in June from her sales job at the company.
She argued that she was discriminated against on the basis of her sex and her age at the time (53), and that she was subjected to harassment, reported CBC.
Jaques was under the impression that her departure was part of a restructuring, she said in the CBC article. It was only when she got her record of employment that she realized it was a dismissal.
"It was a humiliating experience," said Jaques in the report. "And then after that, I couldn't get a job, no matter how often I applied."
Sexism is still “rampant at work,” according to a previous report.
Nine years ‘way too long’ for harassment complaint
However, it was not until August 2017 that an investigator was assigned to Jacques’ case, according to the report.
"The investigation was complex, as it involved a significant number of witness interviews," Karen Sharma, the commission's executive director, said in the CBC report.
The Manitoba Human Rights Commission acknowledges "current wait times to be assigned to an investigator are too long."
The investigation was finished in early 2019. After that, there were mediation discussions between the parties with the commission that did not resolve the case.
There were also other preliminary issues that were referred to adjudication in 2021, with a decision in 2023 that ultimately led to the April 2024 hearing, according to the CBC.
Jacques said she is taking the offered compensation.
"I have no choice but to accept it, because if I don't accept it, I walk away with absolutely nothing," she said in the report. "There is no recourse at this point."
However, she believes the process should not have taken that long, "Nine years is way too long for anybody to have to go through this," said Jaques.
"I think they [the human rights commission] retraumatized me. It's very traumatizing to go through this constantly."
Air Canada could have to pay more than $100 million to over 2,000 workers who lost their jobs at maintenance centres more than a decade ago, lawyers in a class action case recently noted.
Workplace respect training, harassment policy
For their part, Price Industries has made some adjustments in its practices following Jacques’s case, says the CBC. These include providing employee training on respect in the workplace and training for leaders on inclusion, as well as requiring employees to acknowledge a violence and harassment policy.
The employer is also now requiring workers to go through unconscious bias training. It will also have a "reasonable number" of human resources and management personnel attend human rights training offered by the commission.
Earlier this year, the first global treaty to end violence and harassment at work officially came into force in Canada.
