An arbitrator has ruled that a British Columbia worker who suffered a mental injury following a physical altercation between two owners was subject to harassment that wasn’t properly investigated.
“Employers need to make sure events are viewed through a neutral lens, because what began as a dispute between ownership group members led to the worker getting pulled into it,” says Jessica Fairbairn, a labour and employment lawyer at Harris and Company in Vancouver. “Even where [the worker] isn’t the target of the dispute, it doesn’t insulate the incident from giving rise to the employee being subject to bullying and harassment.”
The worker was employed at the Nico Wynd Golf Club in Surrey, BC, as a lead hand for the club’s restaurant since October 2022. Her duties included hiring, training, and supervising restaurant staff.
