Canadian Employment Law Today

Canadian HR Reporter, 2021 4 Report's failure to consider head of cardiac surgery's concerns over how female leaders are viewed in male-dominated workplaces was discriminatory: Ontario Tribunal Leadership assessment fails to get to the heart of the matter at hospital AN ONTARIO surgeon was discriminated against when her concerns about being a female leader in a male-dominated occupa- tion were ignored in an assessment of her department and her leadership abilities, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has ruled. Dr. Irene Cybulsky was a cardiac sur - geon for Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), a research hospital in Hamilton, Ont., af- filiated with McMaster University. She first joined HHS in 1990 for fellowship training and became a cardiac surgeon in 1996. She became head of the HSS Cardiac Surgery Service — a group of surgeons caring for patients needing heart surgery — in 2009 as well as the Cardiac Surgery division head at McMaster University. When Cybulsky was appointed head of the Cardiac Surgery Services, the acting chief of surgery indicated that it was a five- year appointment that was renewable once. However, the HHS by-laws stated that the appointment was subject to an annual re - view and could be revoked at any time by the medical advisory committee (MAC). The MAC approved Cybulsky's re-appoint- ment each year from 2009 to 2015. The cardiac surgery department was mostly male — Cybulsky was the only fe- male cardiac surgeon at HHS for her entire time there; all the interventionists, cardiac surgeon trainees, and ICU attendants were male; and only about one-quarter of the an- esthesiologists were male. According to Cy- bulsky, there were male-only cliques among the cardiac surgeons and she found it diffi- cult to develop bonds with them. When she became head of the Cardiac Surgery Servic- es, she was the only female head in Canada. In January 2014, the interim surgeon- in-chief at HHS announced a review of the Cardiac Surgery Service due to complaints that he had received about Cybulsky's lead - ership style and the direction of the service. Cybulsky asked for details about the com- plaints but didn't receive an answer. Gender-related concerns raised The reviewer met with some of the cardiac surgeons, the director of the cardiac and vas- cular surgery program, site leads, the operat- ing room manager, cardiac anesthesiologists, interventionists, the chief of critical care, the chair of the department of surgery, and twice with Cybulsky. Many of those interviewed commented on Cybulsky's direct, abrupt communication style and a few said they felt bullied at times. Cybulsky said that she would have thought that if anyone had a problem with her, they would have sat down to talk things through. She added that she didn't think she was intimidating or overbearing, she was just assertive and direct. Cybulsky also noted that "One of the things I've learned in some of my reading is leadership programming is a challenge be - cause leadership is a domain that has male traits: assertiveness, directness, problem solving, task oriented. Those are all things that go along with a male domain, and for a woman, they're supposed to be nurturing and fuzzy." She pointed out that "social sci - ence research" had found that women who demonstrate those leadership traits are of- ten seen as incompetent, lacking authority, and aren't well-liked by either women or men. The reviewer completed a first draft of her report on May 21, 2014. It said that some people saw her as being a fair and competent service head, while others — including a group of four cardiac surgeons — felt she was a bully who micromanaged and shouldn't be in a leadership position. Noting the differences in opinion about Cybulsky's leadership abilities, the report recommended that she improve her com - munication style and receive training on "delivery and navigating situations of con- flict." The MAC approved Cybulsky's reap- pointment as head of the Cardiac Surgery Service on June 26. On July 7, Cybulsky met with the interim surgeon-in-chief and the HHS chief medi - cal executive to discuss the report. Cybulsky said that they needed to address her com- ment about the challenges of being a wom- an leader, which was ignored in the report. The chief medical executive agreed that the reviewer "would acknowledge that some of this may well be because you are a woman and they're men," but it wasn't in writing in the report. However, the reviewer had not discussed sex or gender with him. A new surgeon-in-chief joined HHS in August and received a copy of the report on Sept. 9. He told Cybulsky of his con - cerns about how the group interacted and he would reassess her appointment within 12 months. The surgeon-in-chief attended three meetings with the group and they established a plan to work on the issues. However, after December 2014, he didn't attend any further meetings or follow up on the progress of the plan. He also didn't have any additional one-on-one meetings with Cybulsky. Leadership position opened up for others Cybulsky was re-appointed in June 2015 for the following year. On Sept. 16, the surgeon- in-chief told Cybulsky that he would be open - ing up the head of Cardiac Service position to others who may be interested because he needed "someone with a different set of skills to take the group forward, who can bring the group together and will project a positive im - age of the group as a whole." Cybulsky didn't apply for the position when expressions of interest were sought in May 2016 and she left HHS in 2017. Cybulsky filed a human rights complaint alleging that she was discriminated against on the basis of her sex and gender when the review was conducted, when the surgeon- in-chief invited others to apply for the head of Cardiac Service Surgery position, and when she informed the HHS human rights and inclusion specialist about her experi - ences. The tribunal noted that the purpose of the Ontario Human Rights Code was to CASE IN POINT: DISCRIMINATION When a woman is in a male-dominated profession, she can face many challenges because of her gender. Those challenges can increase if she is a leader with authority over male colleagues. The context of ingrained attitudes in such circumstances shouldn't be ignored by employers, especially when conducting assessments or evaluations. Otherwise, it could be discrimination, regardless of intent. BACKGROUND BY JEFFREY R. SMITH The reviewer's report failed to consider the context of the employee being a female leader in a male-dominated workplace.

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