Canadian Employment Law Today

4 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 Firing for racist comments upheld Racist and threatening remarks made by immigrant worker towards another immigrant worker breached code of conduct and policies By JEffrEy r. smiTh A n Alberta arbitrator has upheld the dismissal of an Edmonton city employee for the racially- motivated verbal harassment of a co- worker. Florian Gramescu was a heavy duty me- chanic for the City of Edmonton. He was first hired in September 2009 in a tem- porary capacity and accepted a full-time, permanent position in December 2010. Shortly after he started working for the city, Gramescu completed its respectful workplace training and was given a re- spectful workplace employee handbook. He also was made aware of the city's code of conduct, which stated failure to com- ply could result in disciplinary action and dismissal. Gramescu was originally from Roma- nia and spoke little English when he ar- rived in Canada shortly before joining the city. Another co-worker, Sam Akera, immigrated to Canada from South Sudan and also knew little English when he ar- rived. He started working at the same fa- cility as Gramescu in August 2011. Akera adopted the nickname "Mr. Africa" and referred to himself as that to co-workers. He became friends with Gramescu as Gramescu taught him how to perform automotive repairs. Formerly friendly co-worker used racial slurs However, things began to unravel be- tween the two men in March 2012. On March 5, Gramsecu arrived at work after a dentist appointment to find Akera try- ing to access the computer so he could look up a part number for his personal vehicle. Akera was having password is- sues so he asked Gramescu for some help. Gramescu was unsuccessful in accessing the system, at which point, according to Akera, he said "F----ing monkey, how did you get your job if you are unable to get into the system?" Akera said nothing and went over to the other side of the garage and got help from another employee. Gramescu re- portedly came over, used more profanity and called him a "f----ing monkey" again. Akera again said nothing and left. e next day, Akera went in to the lunchroom for a coffee break and sat near Gramescu. He testified Gramescu began to rub the skin on his head, shoulder and upper body while saying he "would put it on the steering wheel of my car." is remark upset Akera and he left. On his coffee break the day after that, March 7, another employee commented in the lunchroom that he though Akera spoke better English than Gramescu. Ac- cording to Akera, Gramescu responded by saying "F---ing monkey, how can a black man speak better English than me?" Akera commented that maybe the medication he was taking from his dental work was making him "cookoo" because he kept referring to Akera's skin colour, to which Gramescu replied, "F--- your mother, you black monkey, nobody trusts black men." Akera then said he didn't want to be Gramescu's friend anymore and left. On March 9, Akera and Gramescu were assigned to pick up a vehicle at an- other facility. Akera testified that they didn't talk during this trip. Akera said he didn't ask Gramescu to stop making the comments because he wasn't used to confrontation and he wanted to wait and see if Gramescu would stop. He also said he was afraid to talk to Gramescu and he was nervous to report the matter to management. Akera finally reported the situation to a foreman on March 26, and the fore- man passed it along to supervisors. It was suggested they act quickly and talk to Gramsecu as he was scheduled to go on a one-month vacation at the end of the week. Worker denied making racist remarks Gramescu said when he arrived at work on March 5, he was recovering from a two-hour anesthetic from dental surgery and was also on medication to prevent infection. He said he remembered calling Akera by his usual nickname, "Africa," but didn't recall any conversation where he used profanity and called Akera a monkey. Gramescu also said he remembered making a joking comment about Akera "having soft skin like a steering wheel cover" but did not say he wanted to make a steering wheel cover out of it. He claimed he had made comments about Akera's skin texture before. Gramescu "emphatically denied" mak- ing comments in the lunchroom about Akera's speaking English or his mother. He said he used profanity when, after some joking around where Akera called him "cookoo," things got serious and Akera called him an "old-style mechan- ic." However, he said it wasn't directed at anyone and was part of his vocabulary at work. Finally, Gramescu claimed he recalled speaking to Akera in the lunchroom on March 7 and Akera accused him of verbal harassment. He said he didn't know what he had done that Akera thought was ha- rassment, but he didn't ask for specific examples. ey stopped speaking to each other after that, Gramescu said. e city conducted an investigation into the matter, interviewing several employ- ees including both Gramescu and Akera. Another mechanic at the facility re- called Gramescu questioning Akera in the lunchroom over the three days in March and making what he considered inappropriate comments. He claimed to have heard Gramescu call Akera a "monkey from Africa" three times and Akera was not the same afterwards. Still another worker heard Gramescu make remarks about Akera's mother having sexual relations with a monkey. e city determined it was dealing with "repetitious remarks of a racist na- Case in Point: HARASSMENT Racism is never acceptable in society in general nor in the workplace in particular. Employers are obligated to protect employees from discrimination at work based on grounds protected under human rights legislation, including race. One way of protecting employees from discrimination is to discipline employees who are guilty of discriminating against others. And if such employees don't accept responsibility or co-operate with the employer's investigation, that discipline can be termination of employment. Especially if no-one wants to work with that employee anymore. BacKGROUND

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