Toronto Employment Lawyer

Tribunal Awards $35,000 to fired pregnant employee

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario recently reported the decision in Maciel v. Fashion Coiffures, siding with the applicant who was terminated immediately following the announcement of her pregnancy. 

The press release by the Human Rights Legal Support Centre indicates that Vice Chair Naomi Overend noted Ms. Maciel's vulnerability in her decision by outlining that "She was young, just out of school, and coping with an unplanned pregnancy. This was to be her first full-time job, which she testified she was very excited about, making the experience that followed that much more distressing."

Follow this link to the Globe & Mail article on Ms. Maciel's ordeal.

A copy of the decision can be found by clicking on the link below.

Download Maciel v Fashion Coiffures doc

Whitten & Lublin is an employment law firm providing counsel to both employers and employees on a wide range of employment law issues.

Harassed Employees Have Options

The law now leans towards workers as harassed employees are no longer without a legal remedy.   

Workplace abuse may have been obvious but rarely did it amount to a paid vacation.

Employees faced with a workplace abuser used to visit their doctor for a prescription or a note requesting a leave of absence.  Except in extraordinary cases, employees were without a legal remedy, as courts had little, if any, appetite to walk into the workplace and order bosses to be nicer to their subordinates.  The reality for most: either leave - or lose - your job. 

But the abuser no longer gets to act with legal impunity.  Now, equipped with the knowledge that he or she can sue for significant damages, tormented employees call their employment lawyer.

Just as I discussed in my May 2, 2007 Metro News Column (read here) employees have options when it comes to an abusive boss:

-- Where abuse leaves an employee's job objectively intolerable, she should resign and sue for constructive dismissal, but only after first discussing the merits of your case with me.

-- Request that a workplace investigation be commenced to substantiate allegations of an abusive boss.

-- If there is a discriminatory motive, consider commencing a complaint at the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Employees no longer have to hide in a legal box, without recourse.  When it comes to an abusive boss, legal options do exist.