An employee was recently found to have violated the
Human Rights Code (the
Code) in part to due to a Facebook post by the employee about her
co-worker. Specifically, the employee's post indicated that she
had been disciplined by her employer for calling the co-worker a
"dirty Mexican". The co-worker filed a complaint at the
Human Rights Tribunal (the Tribunal) against the employee alleging
discrimination and harassment under the Code. Curiously, the
employer was not named in the Application.
Overview
Harassment in the workplace on the basis of race, origin,
ancestry and citizenship (among other things) is prohibited by subsection 5(2) of the Code.
Harassment is defined as "a course of vexatious comment or
conduct that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be
unwelcome". Unfortunately, the employee-respondent in this
case did not respond to the Application or participate in the
proceedings. She was accordingly deemed to have accepted the
allegations of
