Canadian Employment Law Today

4 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 Church employee loses faith in employer Poor relationship with church leadership leads to health and safety complaint, harassment complaint and dismissal By JEffrEy r. SMiTh A Manitoba employer violated an employee's right to provide in- formation about and complain about conditions affecting her health and safety at work, the Manitoba La- bour Board has ruled. e employee joined Evangel Chapel in Winnipeg in 2007 as a youth outreach co-ordinator. In 2010, she also became the custodian of the church, which gave her full-time hours between the two po- sitions. e employee was also a member of the church's congregation and wor- shipped there. For the first three years of her em- ployment, the employee had no diffi- culties in her job. In 2010, the church hired a new youth pastor who became the employee's supervisor in the youth outreach program. e employee became concerned with the youth pastor's conduct dur- ing church youth events that he was in charge of. She felt children were being left unattended and unsuper- vised, which exposed them to potential dangers. She also believed this led to children vandalizing the property and not cleaning up after themselves dur- ing events, which affected the amount of work she had as custodian of the church. e employee told the youth pastor of her concerns and also brought the situation to the attention of the senior pastor. As a result, her relationship with the youth pastor deteriorated. e employee felt the senior pastor didn't address her concerns and the youth pastor's supervision continued to frus- trate her. e youth pastor felt the employee was being disrespectful towards him and she often yelled at him. He testi- fied children became reluctant to come to the church's youth events because of the employee's behaviour, so he re- ported his concerns to the pastor. He told the pastor she made derogatory comments towards him and looked through private documents in his desk. e pastor was worried the employ- ee was displaying a disrespectful atti- tude towards him as well, along with problems with punctuality and submis- sion of expenses. e church board de- cided in early 2013 that the employee shouldn't communicate with the youth pastor on employment matters. Also in early 2013, the employee be- gan counselling with a visitation pastor regarding personal matters. e visita- tion pastor gave the Evangel Chapel's pastor a report of this counselling, which included references to personal matters of the employee. On March 7, 2013, the church board and elders met with the pastor and youth pastor. e employee was in- vited to join them midway through the meeting to discuss her counselling ses- sions and attitude towards the leader- ship, with the intention not to fire her but "to provide clarity and reconcili- ation." e pastor handed out copies of the counselling report to the board members, but the employee didn't re- ceive a copy when she arrived. ings didn't go well and the youth pastor said he wasn't prepared to work with the employee any longer. e pastor did not comment on whether he could work with the employee. upset employee filed harassment complaints e next day, the employee found copies of the counselling report in the church foyer and was upset at the breach of confidence. She also felt the information wasn't true and was "slanderous." She emailed the church board and elders to say she was being harassed in her em- ployment and the pastor breached her confidence. She asked why the confiden- tial information was circulated and sug- gested outside mediation to resolve mat- ters. She also contacted the overseeing fellowship of churches — of which the Evangel Chapel was a member. On March 21, the church gave the employee a written warning about her attitude, disrespect towards the leader- ship, controlling her anger, attendance, church cleaning schedule, discuss- ing personal job-related matters with church membership, and other issues. ere were no concerns with her over- all job performance, but there was con- cern her relationship with the youth pastor was causing stress for some vol- unteers. e warning concluded: "Any inconsistencies in this matter will be viewed as an act of disobedience where termination of employment may be considered." e employee refused to sign the let- ter of warning. On April 3, the employee was told she was being removed from volun- teer activities with the church and would no longer be allowed to teach Sunday school, which she had done for 10 years. She told the church board this was a continuation of the pattern of harassment, but she was told it was "for her own protection and benefit until such time that normality would return." e employee complained to the fel- lowship of churches about the pastor, which began an investigation. She also emailed the church board complaining her workplace was hostile and suggest- ed she discussed things with the Mani- toba Employment Standards Branch. On June 1, the fellowship of church- es completed its investigation and charged the pastor with violating the ministerial code of ethics by "violat- ing the confidence of those who seek help," not providing spiritual support to a congregation member and assum- case in PoinT: REPRISALS EmployEEs have a right to speak up if they feel their health and safety is threatened at work. It's a common right under most occupational health and safety legislation. If an employee is subject to harassment at work that affects them both professionally and personally, that can qualify as a threat to her health and safety. And if the employer punishes the employee for complaining or informing the employer about it, that's a no-no under the law. Even if the employer is a church. BACKGRoUND

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