The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal recently dismissed a complaint by a former employee who alleged her employment was terminated in retaliation for her support of her husband in his ongoing human rights complaint against the company.
The company applied to the Tribunal to dismiss the complaint on the basis that there was no reasonable prospect it would succeed. The Tribunal agreed, finding that the allegation that the complainant’s dismissal was somehow connected to her husband’s complaint was merely speculative.
The Tribunal also rejected an argument that section 43 of the Code, which prohibits retaliation against anyone who makes a complaint or “otherwise assists in a complaint”, should extend to protect those who are very closely related to and/or supportive of a complainant in an ongoing human rights proceeding. The Tribunal found that, while the complainant supported her husband’s allegations, there was no evidence that she “assisted” him in his complaint.
Cable v. Coast Mountain Bus Company (No. 2), 2007 BCHRT 105