Barbara Humphrey

The complainant, a customer sales representative, was struck by a vehicle during her lunch break and suffered injuries.

She provided her employer with a doctor's note stating she could not return to work until further notice.

The employer, frustrated by staff shortages, demanded she attend a meeting shortly after the accident, during which her manager diminished her work and acted hostile.

The employer subsequently terminated her employment without seeking further medical information.

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found that the employer failed to accommodate her disability and recklessly terminated her, causing mental anguish.

The Tribunal awarded $10,000 in general damages and mental anguish, plus $301.50 in special damages for lost wages.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission brought a motion to withdraw from active participation in the hearing of a human rights complaint, having reached a settlement with the corporate respondent.

The complainant opposed the withdrawal and brought a separate motion to amend her complaint to add grounds of race and racial harassment.

The Tribunal granted the Commission's motion to withdraw, finding no abuse of process and that transitional issues had been resolved.

The Tribunal dismissed the complainant's motion to amend, finding the proposed amendment was brought too late, was based on weak hearsay evidence, and would cause significant prejudice to the respondents.

The complainant requested reconsideration of an earlier interim decision deferring a constitutional question to the courts, and sought to amend her human rights complaint.

The Board of Inquiry held that it lacked jurisdiction to reconsider its decision because its rules of practice do not provide for reconsideration, as required by the Statutory Powers Procedure Act.

The Board also dismissed the motion to amend the complaint, finding that the proposed amendments did not assert new grounds of discrimination but merely pleaded additional evidence and particularized allegations already covered by the original complaint, which the respondents had already conceded.

In an interim decision regarding a human rights complaint, the Board of Inquiry directed a conference call to address the complainant's request for reconsideration of a prior decision deferring a constitutional question, an extension of time to pursue the question in court, and scheduling for motions to amend the complaint and confine the scope of evidence.

The Board also dismissed the complainant's request for documentary disclosure of management meeting minutes as premature, pending the resolution of the preliminary motions.