Canadian Employment Law Today

CELT May 29 2013:celt 467.qxd 13-05-15 4:34 PM Page 4 May 29, 2013 CASE IN POINT: HARASSMENT 'Crackhead' comment cracks employment relationship Company and owner must pay $30,000 after owner called sales agent with addiction history a 'crackhead' to his face and to clients BACKGROUND Digging up the past GIVING IN to anger in the context of the workplace isn't usually a good idea. Even if there's no physical altercation, words can land an employer in trouble, especially if it involves a manager verbally dressing down an employee. Sometimes people say things without thinking — or caring — about what they say, and this could lead to bigger trouble if the recipient of the verbal abuse has a disability that's brought up. If that person's dignity, feelings or self-respect is damaged in the context of that disability, look out. | BY JEFFREY R. SMITH | AN ONTARIO company and one of its owners must pay a former employee with a history of drug addiction almost $30,000 for calling the employee a "crackhead" and revealing his history to his sales contacts. William Halliday was a sales agent for Van Toen Innovations (VTI), an Ontario company that located vehicles to meet clients' requirements and obtained preferential pricing. It operated through a website, TransDeal.ca. As a sales agent, Halliday received client names from VTI and used his contacts at automobile dealerships to find a deal for the clients. Contacts were usually senior sales personnel or principals at the dealerships. Once a deal was made, TransDeal would receive a payment from the dealership and Halliday would receive a percentage of that as a commission. Halliday was hired in February 2009. VTI instructed its sales agents to use business cards with the TransDeal email address and their personal cellphone number. It also forbade deals outside of the TransDeal system, even if 4 agents generated their own deals. Halliday worked another job during the day but spent about six hours a day doing TransDeal work on his lunch hour and after work. He started with the names of three contacts at dealerships but developed that into a list of 25 contacts, with whom he had "very personal" relationships involving professional and personal trust. Many contacts and clients said he was the "best guy" they had. Long-time drug addiction before being hired Before Halliday started working for TransDeal, he was addicted to crack cocaine for 23 years. His addiction caused him to lose jobs, his family and friends, and he had periods of homelessness. Halliday participated in 14 residential addiction recovery programs over the years, with many relapses but by the time he joined TransDeal he had been sober for eight months. He remained clean and sober during his employment with TransDeal, with the exception of two weekends in the summer of 2009. Halliday got along well with one of the owners of VTI, Geoffrey VanToen, who supervised him. In March 2009, Van Toen invited Halliday out for a drink but Halliday declined, explaining he was a recovering addict. Over the next few months, Halliday revealed his history of addiction and Van Toen was supportive of his recovery efforts. Halliday's first weekend relapse in the summer didn't affect his work since dealerships are closed on Sundays, but Halliday told Van Toen about it. Van Toen met up with Halliday to pay him money owed to him, but Van Toen told Halliday he wouldn't get paid unless he checked into a detox program. After being turned away from a few detox sites because admissions weren't done that way, Van Toen drove Halliday home and gave him a partial payment. Halliday began going to support meetings. Van Toen claimed that in August 2009, he had to pay money to drug dealers after Halliday called him — once to retrieve his laptop and another time to retrieve his cellphone. Halliday denied these events happened, except for when Van Toen drove him around to detox centres. On Nov. 14, 2009, Van Toen called Halliday, asking if he had any deals to close that week. Afterwards, Halliday contacted another sales agent who told him she hadn't been paid in a month. Halliday had not been paid for a couple of weeks himself and assume there was a cash flow problem. However, when he called Van Toen to inquire, Van Toen took offence and called Halliday a "f--ing crackhead," saying the company had done everything to help him and he Published by Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2013 Continued on page 5

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