Human Rights Tribunal | Fired for denouncing a racist joke, an employee wins her case

After being fired for having denounced the racist remarks of her boss and being told that she “took it too personal”, Sarah*, a young woman from Terrebonne, won her case before the Human Rights Tribunal. the person.

Lila Dussault
The Press

“I’m really very happy, because during the whole process, we acted as if all the fault was on me. As if it was my behavior that had led to my dismissal, when it was I who received a wrong, ”says Sarah on the phone.

The 25-year-old woman from Terrebonne, in Lanaudière, requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. In 2019, she was fired after daring to express her discomfort when a client and then her manager made jokes about black people in front of her. Almost three years later, she won her case before the Human Rights Tribunal.

“When my lawyer was working on the subject, she found it very difficult to find other similar articles [à ma situation], recalls Sarah. I’m really glad to know that I set a precedent for that. »

Jokes that weren’t funny

That afternoon, in the Entrepôt de la lunette shop where Sarah worked at the time, a customer started making jokes in questionable taste, especially about blonde women or overweight people. When Sarah – the store’s only black employee – came up to him, he made a joke about black people.

“I was so surprised,” she recalls. There were several people around me, so I decided to play the innocent. I thought it was going to stop, but no, it started again. Sarah decided not to say anything, so as not to create a scene at her workplace.

But the same evening, during a team dinner, her manager told the same racist joke again. “I told him that the client was very lucky [que je me sois tue], describes Sarah. And there, despite everything, my manager continued on the same joke, as if it were funny. And not only that, but other jokes were added…”

A reaction “too personal”

The manager asked to meet Sarah on her next shift. “She told me that I had taken it too personal, that I shouldn’t take it like that”, denounces the young woman. The same evening, she wrote a message on her private Facebook page, “without mentioning the event in question and without identifying her employer”, specifies the judgment of the Court.

The next day she was fired.

“My boss told me now that she, as an employer, was going to be reluctant to hire other black people in the future. She gave me my letter of resignation, and that’s it, ”says Sarah.

Discriminatory dismissal

“There has been a trivialization [de la discrimination], an exacerbation, and that resulted in the dismissal of the employee, denounces in an interview Myrlande Pierre, vice-president of the Commission for Human Rights and Youth Rights (CDPDJ), who represented Sarah. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the workplace is free of any discrimination, including this one, of a racist nature. »

Sarah decided to file a complaint with the CDPDJ, which issued recommendations to the company. As these remained unanswered, the case was brought before the Human Rights Tribunal.

In its judgment, the Court considers that the victim testified in a “sober, dignified and credible way of the feeling of injustice of having been dismissed for having expressed a disagreement as well as of the emotions and fears that she still experiences”.

The Tribunal concluded that this was a discriminatory dismissal based on color and race. He clarified that an “employer cannot require an employee injured by racist behavior at work or during work to act as if she were not suffering from it”.

The employer was ordered to pay damages of $10,000 to the employee.

Three years later, Sarah is still living the aftermath of the event. To ensure that she is no longer exposed to this type of discrimination, she has chosen a work environment with other people from diverse backgrounds, and working from home. “There is no way for me to hide that I am Black,” she sums up.

*Fictitious first name