CANADIAN EMPLOYMENT LAW TODAY
Largest ever award for Ontario
human rights breach
Nearly $100,000 on compensatory damages reflect extreme level
of humiliation causing employee to become suicidal
| BY RONALD MINKEN |
THE DISCRIMINATION, harassment, poisoned workplace and lack of accommodation caused enough damage to the
employee's life and wellbeing that the employee
is entitled to almost
HUMAN
$100,000 plus four years
of lost wages, the Grievance Settlement Board of Ontario has
ruled.
On July 24, 2013, the board released
a decision in Ontario (Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services) and OPSEU (Ranger), Re with
respect to whether further compensation is owed. The board awarded
$45,000 in compensatory damages for
discrimination, harassment and poisoned workplace, which was the
largest amount ever awarded by the
board. Another $53,000 in compensatory damages was awarded for failure
to accommodate over
four years, and the
employer
was
also
RIGHTS
ordered to add vacation
credits to Ranger's vacation bank and include overtime and
other premium pay as long as he
remains in his current position.
The board previously upheld Robert
Ranger's grievances that he had suffered discrimination, harassment and
a poisoned workplace at the Ottawa
Carleton Detention Centre, and that
the employer had failed in its duty to
accommodate him when he became ill
as a result of the harassment and discrimination and ordered the employer
to pay $245,242 for lost wages.
Some of the reasons for the $45,000
award were as follows:
•Uncontroverted medical evidence
that Ranger suffered anxiety and deep
depression, at times being suicidal.
•The harassment was profoundly
humiliating.
•Ranger felt victimized and lost selfrespect.
•He transformed to a bitter, distrustful
person.
•The harm suffered was foreseeable.
•He lost the work he wanted to do as a
Continued on page 9
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Published by Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2013
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