A BC man attempted to take legal action against a former employer after he made an ill-advised comment that was perceived as misogynistic, which he tried to excuse as a joke or a misunderstanding.
The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) hired Harshdeep Singh as a social worker in late August 2022. A few months into his employment, at a Christmas party in December 2022, he was introduced to Pauline Terbasket, who was the ONA executive director.
According to the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, Singh made a comment that he claimed was a joke about Terbasket’s role.
He was fired the next day for workplace harassment.
The party took place on December 14, 2022. David Leroux, the HR manager, introduced Singh to Terbasket. She stated her name and extended her hand out to Singh. He took it and said, “Oh, I thought you were the secretary.”
The decision states that, following the comment, the situation was immediately awkward. Terbasket and Leroux walked away, and again, Singh was terminated the next day. ONA described the reason for his termination as:
“The demeaning remark levelled at the highest authority within the ONA and the severity thereof constituted gross insubordination, did not warrant progressive discipline, and justified termination of the employee in this maternity backfill arrangement.”
Singh had an excuse for his comment. He told the tribunal that on his first day at ONA, he met Terbasket at the front desk, and she helped him get his keys for a fleet vehicle. He adds that she wasn’t introduced as the executive director, so he assumed she was a front desk administrator.
Singh believed that Terbasket would remember their interaction, but because she didn’t, she took his comments as a misogynistic insult.
“Terbasket denies the parties had previously met at the front desk,” the tribunal decision states.
Despite the situation, in addition to his final paycheque, ONA also paid Singh one month’s pay after termination on compassionate grounds. It paid him $3,732.93 and a $330 deduction for a travel advance.
The tribunal had to determine whether Singh was wrongfully dismissed.
“While I find the remark was undoubtedly awkward and ill-advised, I find ONA has not proven it amounted to an irreparable breakdown in the employment relationship.”
Further, the tribunal said that Singh’s dismissal did qualify for wrongful termination.
“ONA does not say that it gave Mr. Singh an opportunity to explain himself, to apologize, or to otherwise account for his remark prior to terminating him,” the tribunal said.
Based on ONA’s own policies, the BC employer was required to thoroughly investigate any perceived harassment, which it didn’t do, or at least didn’t provide the tribunal evidence of having been done.
“While ONA says it conducted an internal investigation and found Pauline Terbasket had ‘never laid eyes’ on Mr. Singh before, it did not provide any documents from that investigation.”
Beyond the comment he made at the Christmas party, there were no other documented instances of misogynistic behaviour from Singh.
Despite agreeing that Singh was wrongfully terminated, the tribunal awarded him no additional damages beyond what ONA had already paid him.