A recent court decision makes it clear that management must
maintain a healthy workplace culture. In this decision, a
supervisor was dismissed for cause because he was disrespectful to
women—even though he didn't make inappropriate
comments directly to them.
The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench recently found just
cause for dismissal based on an employee's disrespectful
behaviour that created a hostile work environment. In Gillam v.
Waschuk Pipeline Construction Ltd., the employer, a pipeline
construction company, terminated an employee who had worked in a
supervisory role as an equipment transport co-ordinator from 1996
to 2008. The office at the work camp where the plaintiff employee
worked was staffed by three women, among others. The plaintiff used
foul language and inappropriate comments to refer to the three
women employees, but he did not use this language in front of
them—he used it in front of other employees, including
employees who reported to him as
