B.C. Human Rights Tribunal Makes Record-Shattering Award For Injury To Dignity

• Published date: 02 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Employee Benefits & Compensation, Employee Rights/ Labour Relations
• Law Firm: McCarthy Tétrault LLP
• Author: McCarthy Tétrault Employer Advisor, Laura DeVries and Heather Mallabone

On January 28, 2021, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal (the "Tribunal") ordered the Government of British Columbia to pay a total of $974,167 - including a record-shattering $176,000 in compensation for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect - for discriminating and retaliating against a B.C. Corrections Officer, contrary to sections 13 and 43 of the BC Human Rights Code (the "Code").

Francis v. BC Ministry of Justice (No. 5), 2021 BCHRT 16 (the "Remedy Decision"), is the latest chapter in a 9-year saga between Levan Francis, a former B.C. Corrections officer, and the BC Ministry of Justice, North Fraser Pre-Trial Centre ("North Fraser"). In 2012, Mr. Francis filed a human rights complaint alleging that his employer, North Fraser, had discriminated against him on the basis of race and colour, contrary to section 13 of the Code. Mr. Francis also alleged that North Fraser had retaliated against him contrary to section 43 of the Code by treating him with hostility after learning that he had filed a human rights complaint.

The scope of Mr. Francis' complaint covered the 18-month period leading up to his departure from North Fraser in 2013. He alleged that, during that time, his colleagues and supervisors made racist remarks about him, to him and about other coworkers. The impugned incidents included being stereotyped as slow and lazy, having his mistakes treated differently than his colleagues', being ordered to breach protocol and then being reprimanded for doing so, and being accused of causing problems and playing the "race card" after reporting the incidents and filing a human rights complaint.

In Francis v. BC Ministry of Justice (No.3), 2019 BCHRT 136 (the "Liability Decision"), the Tribunal found that Mr. Francis had been stereotyped, singled out, and subjected to racial comments and slurs. The Tribunal also found that, after reporting the behaviour to management and filing a human rights complaint, Mr. Francis had been regarded as a troublemaker and further targeted by his supervisors. After hearing evidence submitted over the course of nine days, in the form of ten witnesses and over 290 documentary exhibits, the Tribunal concluded that there had been nine instances of discrimination and two instances of retaliation that, together, amounted to a poisoned work environment.

In the Remedy Decision, the Tribunal found that as a result of the discrimination and retaliation, Mr. Francis lost his employment, experienced a deterioration of mental and...