PM40065782
Emplo
y
ment Law Today
Canad ad a ian
www.employmentlawtoday.com
July 18, 2018
Antagonistic worker fi red for behaviour,
not harassment complaints
Worker couldn't get along with colleagues,
accusing them of malicious rumours and devious motives
BY JEFFREY R. SMITH
AN ONTARIO worker who couldn't get
along with his colleagues and lashed out
at them was dismissed for inappropri-
ate workplace conduct, not any harass-
ment complaints he claimed to have made,
the Ontario Labour Relations Board has
ruled.
Amex Canada is a company handling
American Express credit card business
in Canada and is based in Toronto. In
September 2016, Amex hired Jean-Paul
Massissou to be a customer care professional
(CCP) responsible for helping customers
accessing Amex services and resolving
customer issues and complaints. All Amex
CCPs worked in an open offi ce environment
with no assigned seating in order to support
a collaborative working environment.
Massissou's orientation included comput-
er module training on the company's harass-
ment and workplace violence policy as well
as its values and code of conduct. e pol-
Worker suff ers years of sexual
harassment, assault at work
Shoe store employee was immigrant and single mother; Tribunal
awards $200,000 for nearly 20 years of sexual abuse by store owner
BY JEFFREY R. SMITH
AN ONTARIO worker has won more
than $200,000 in human rights damages for
many years of sexual harassment and assault
she endured at the hands of her employer.
e 59-year-old worker was an immigrant
from ailand who came to Canada in 1979.
She was hired for her fi rst job in Canada four
years later by Joe Singer Shoes in Toronto,
owned at the time by Joe Singer. Eventually,
the shoe store was taken over by Joe Singer's
son, Paul Singer, and the worker moved into
an apartment above the store with her son in
1989 when she separated from her husband.
e Singers also owned the apartment.
According to the worker, a few years after
she began working at the shoe store, Paul
Singer began making inappropriate and
sexually charged comments towards her and
inappropriately touching her. is was par-
Medical marijuana found to be undue
hardship in safety sensitive positions
pg. 3
Inability to test for residual impairment
made it diffi cult to determine safety
Liability for discrimination at
work reaches new levels pg. 4
Supreme Court decision shows
employers must address
behavior by non-employees
$200,000 on page 6 »
EMAILS
on page 7 »
CREDIT:
CHUBYKIN
ARKADY
/SHUTTERSTOCK
with Stuart Rudner
Ask the Expert pg. 2
Leave entitlements for
probationary employees