The Northern Health Region applied for leave to appeal a ruling regarding an employee fired for alcohol use to the Supreme Court of Canada on Dec. 4.
In September 2015, a Manitoba human rights adjudicator ruled that the NHR wrongly dismissed Linda Horrocks, a former Flin Flon health care aide, over her alcoholism in 2011. At the time, she was awarded her job back along with full back pay and $10,000 in compensation. By January 2016, Horrocks had not been rehired.
The NHR challenged the ruling in the Court of Queen’s Bench, and on May 6, 2016, a judge set aside the decision, ruling in favour of the NHR that the matter fell outside of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission’s jurisdiction. The Manitoba Court of Appeal reversed that decision in October 2017. The matter was sent back to the reviewing judge to decide whether the human rights adjudicator’s original decision was reasonable with regards to the merit of the discrimination complaint and remedies that were ordered.
When recently asked whether Horrocks had received the back pay and sum ordered by the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, the NHR responded that it was unable to comment, as the matter is before the courts.
According to an official statement by the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, the commission is hopeful that the Supreme Court of Canada will grant leave to appeal the case.
“Since the original decision of the Manitoba Human Rights Adjudication Panel finding that Linda Horrocks was discriminated against by the Northern Regional Health Authority was reviewed by the Court of Queen’s Bench, there has been growing confusion around the purpose and intent of our provincial Human Rights Code and the jurisdiction of the human rights commission and tribunal and labour arbitrators appointed under the Labour Relations Act,” reads the statement.
“The Commission will be filing a response to the leave application in the next few weeks agreeing that clarification on the jurisdictional questions is needed to reassure Canadians of the fundamental importance of human rights law and how it protects all workers, unionized or not, from discrimination in the workplace. The Commission remains of the view that the human rights scheme in Manitoba is designed to work alongside the labour arbitration scheme and that all workers in Manitoba have the right to choose to pursue their complaints discrimination under the Human Rights Code via their union or directly through the Commission.”
- with files from the Thompson Citizen
