A Burnaby developer has failed to convince the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal to dismiss a complaint from an employee who claims one of its construction superintendents called her a "dyke" and complained of "another f***ing woman on my jobsite" when she arrived.
Jane Louise Foster, a construction safety officer with Thind Properties Ltd., launched a complaint against the company, the construction superintendent John Rutckyj, and Thind's vice-president for construction Steve Eder, alleging they had discriminated against her based on sex and sexual orientation contrary to the Human Rights Code, according to a tribunal ruling last week.
Thind applied to have the complaint dismissed, arguing it had already dealt with the matters raised by Foster and saying that it wouldn't further the purposes of the code to allow the complaint against Rutckyj and Eder because they were "acting in the scope of their duties," the ruling said.
The company relocated Foster to a different job site so she wouldn't have to work with Rutckyj or under his supervision, but Foster told the company that was "not a resolution," according to the ruling.
The ruling said Thind hired a safety consultant to conduct an investigation and to develop a new respectful workplace policy and complaint resolution procedure for the company.
That consultant concluded Rutckyj's behaviour toward Foster did constitute bullying and harassment, so Eder met with Rutckyj to "address how he interacted with employees and to discuss proper and respectful workplace communications with him," according to the ruling.
But Thind said Foster wanted Rutckyj fired.
Foster filed a WorkSafeBC claim for compensation for mental disorder due to the events involving the construction superintendent.
Her compensation claim was rejected, but WorkSafe, too, concluded Rutckyj's actions constituted bullying and harassment.
Thind argued allowing Foster's human rights complaint to go ahead would mean "relitigating the exact same issue" WorkSafe had already dealt with.
But tribunal member Christopher Foy disagreed.
He said WorkSafe had not applied the Human Rights Code to Foster's allegations of discrimination.
Foy also rejected Thind's argument that allowing the complaint against Rutckyj and Eder would not further the purposes of the code.
He said the Supreme Court of Canada has stated "the aspirational purposes of the code require that individual perpetrators of discrimination be held accountable for their actions."
"Additionally, the complaint before me involves serious allegations of harassment and discrimination," Foy said. "At a hearing, if Ms. Foster were successful at proving her version of events, then there could be a measure of individual culpability for which the tribunal could order a remedy against the individual respondents in their personal capacities."
Foy’s decision does not mean Foster has proven her allegations, only that her human rights complaint will be allowed to go ahead.
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