Tom Lederer

The complainant alleged discrimination in employment by the respondents contrary to the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Prior to the hearing on the merits, the parties reached a settlement agreement.

The settlement included a letter of regret, the posting of Human Rights Code cards at the business premises, and a payment of $5,000 to the complainant without admission of liability.

The Board of Inquiry confirmed the settlement, noting that it adequately addressed both the public interest and the private interests of the parties.

The complainant, an Anglophone, was dismissed from his position as Administrative Officer after seven years.

His position was eliminated and replaced by a similar one requiring a candidate who was 'fluently bilingual and preferably Francophone'.

The Board of Inquiry found that 'Francophone' in this context meant having French as a mother tongue, which is closely associated with ancestry.

The Board concluded that the preference for a Francophone was a significant factor in the complainant's dismissal, constituting discrimination on the basis of ancestry under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

The respondent was ordered to pay three months' salary and $1,000 for loss of dignity.

The respondent employer raised a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the Board of Inquiry to hear a human rights complaint regarding discrimination in employment.

The respondent argued that the complainant's prior unsuccessful grievance before an arbitration board under the Labour Relations Act, which arose from the same facts, rendered the matter res judicata.

The Board of Inquiry dismissed the preliminary objection, holding that the remedial procedures under the Human Rights Code are distinct from and not supplanted by the Labour Relations Act, and that the doctrine of res judicata did not apply because the statutory questions and parties were different.