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ARTICLE · 05 MARCH 2021

Workplace Harassment Class Action Dismissed By BC Supreme Court

McLennan Ross LLP
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The Supreme Court of British Columbia has dismissed a proposed class action that consisted of allegations that an employer had committed a "systemic breach" of employment contracts by failing to...

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Donald Dear
Donald Dear
Joyce Mitchell
Joyce Mitchell
Iain Bailey
Iain Bailey
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The Supreme Court of British Columbia has dismissed a proposed class action that consisted of allegations that an employer had committed a "systemic breach" of employment contracts by failing to provide a harassment-free workplace. 

In Lewis v WestJet Airlines Ltd., 2021 BCSC 228, the plaintiff advanced wide-sweeping, unproven allegations that the defendant had failed to create and implement effective policies to prevent and address workplace harassment. The plaintiff sought to bring the claim as a class action on behalf of a large number of former or current female flight attendants. 

In bringing the application to certify a class proceeding, the plaintiff argued that liability could be established on a class-wide basis and without proof of harassment or harm suffered by any putative class member. The plaintiff sought the extraordinary remedy of a disgorgement of the defendant's profits, a rarely granted remedy that is conceptually based on a defendant's

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