A federal human rights tribunal has ordered a trucking company to pay $30,000 to an Alberta driver who was harassed by co-workers and managers after suffering an injury on the job.Blacklock's Reporter says the decision by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found the workplace conduct created a “poisoned work environment” for Edmonton driver Gurbakshish Singh following a hand injury that required surgery.Adjudicator Jennifer Orange wrote that persistent mocking, insults and swearing directed at Singh were serious enough to amount to discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act.The tribunal awarded Singh $15,000 in special damages and another $15,000 for pain and suffering, plus interest dating back to the incidents in 2019.Singh had worked only five weeks for First Call Trucking Limited when he injured his hand while working. Evidence presented to the tribunal showed his manager complained privately he wanted to fire Singh but did not because doing so would require paying thousands of dollars to the Workers’ Compensation Board.Following the injury, Singh was repeatedly mocked by co-workers who called him the “WCB guy” and swore at him. At one point, he was left standing outside in the truck yard for four hours waiting for an assignment.The harassment continued for months, the tribunal heard..“They swore at him when he said he was not comfortable doing certain tasks,” Orange wrote. “They mocked him by saying that his ‘office was outside’ and thereby explicitly rejected him from the shared work environment. They demeaned and ridiculed him because of his injury.”Orange concluded the behaviour was persistent and damaging.“The behaviour was persistent and serious and poisoned the work environment,” she wrote, adding it caused significant harm and negatively affected Singh’s mental health.The tribunal noted harassment under federal human rights law is broadly defined as unwelcome behaviour that harms a worker’s environment.Examples can include insults, degrading comments, jokes, threats or other conduct that is hostile, intimidating or humiliating.Because First Call Trucking operates as an interprovincial transport company, it falls under federal regulation and the Canadian Human Rights Act..The ruling also noted company managers failed to appear at the hearing despite receiving several notices from the tribunal.Orange said financial awards must be meaningful in order to address discrimination.“Damage awards should not be so trivial or insignificant so as to be meaningless,” she wrote.The tribunal added that inadequate compensation risks minimizing the seriousness of discrimination and can ultimately allow the behaviour to continue.
