Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR March 9, 2015 employmeNt lAw 5 Jeffrey smith Legal View RECRUITING FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS? O er positions to over 190,000 Members Highly targeted advertising Immediate matching resume database access FOR MORE INFORMATION, cpacanada.ca/CPASource TELEPHONE•416 204 3284•EMAIL•TGardiner@cpacanada.ca 14-126a_EN_CPAsource_fullpagead_9.625x7.indd 1 10/8/2014 3:40:37 PM Firing for racist comments upheld Edmonton employee dismissed for racially motivated verbal harassment of co-worker Florian gramescu was a heavy duty me- chanic for the city of edmonton. he was first hired in 2009 in a temporary capacity and accepted full-time in 2010. Shortly after he started working for the city, Gramescu completed its respectful workplace training and was given a respectful work- place employee handbook. He also was made aware of the city's code of conduct, which stated failure to comply could result in disciplinary action and dismissal. Gramescu was originally from Romania and spoke little English when he first joined the City. An- other co-worker, Sam Akera, im- migrated from South Sudan and also knew little English. He started working at the same facility as Gramescu in 2011. Akera adopted the nickname "Mr. Africa" and referred to him- self by that nickname to co-work- ers. Akera became friends with Gramescu. However, things began to unravel between the two men in March 2012. On March 5, Gramescu arrived at work after a dentist appointment to find Akera unsuccessfully trying to access a computer. According to Akera, Gramescu said, "Fucking monkey, how did you get your job if you are unable to get into the system?" Akera said nothing and got help from another employee. Gramescu reportedly came over, used more profanity and called him a "fucking monkey" again. Akera said nothing and left. e next day, Akera sat near Gramescu on a coffee break. 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 up- set Akera and he left. e next day, another employee said Akera spoke better English than Gramescu. According to Akera, Gramescu responded by saying "Fucking monkey, how can a black man speak better English than me?" Akera commented that maybe the dental medication was mak- ing him "cookoo" because he kept referring to Akera's skin colour, to which Gramescu replied, "Fuck your mother, you black monkey, nobody trusts black men." Akera then said he didn't want to be his friend anymore and left. 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, who passed the information along to supervisors. It was sug- gested they address the issue quickly as Gramescu was soon going on a one-month vacation. Gramescu said when he ar- rived at work on March 5, he was recovering from a two-hour an- esthetic from dental surgery and was also on medication to pre- vent infection. He said he remem- bered 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 remem- bered 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 de- nied" making comments in the lunchroom about Akera's abil- ity to speak English or about 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 mechanic." How- ever, he said it wasn't directed at anyone and was part of his vo- cabulary 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 harassment, but he didn't ask for specific examples. ey stopped speaking to each other after that, Gramescu said. e City conducted an investi- gation into the matter, interview- ing several employees including both Gramescu and Akera. Another mechanic at the facil- ity recalled Gramescu question- ing Akera in the lunchroom over the three days in March and mak- ing what he considered inappro- priate 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 re- lations with a monkey. e City determined Grames- cu breached both the respectful workplace and workplace violence policies. ough Akera never took his concerns directly to Gramescu and never told management he felt threatened, the nature of the comments — particularly the ref- erence to Akera's skin and a steer- ing wheel — were serious. Akera had also made it clear he didn't want Gramescu removed worKer > pg. 6 Akera said he didn't ask gramescu to stop making the comments because he wasn't used to confrontation and wanted to wait and see if gramescu would stop.

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