Personal assistant was sexually and physically assaulted by boss, B.C. tribunal finds, awarding $100K for discrimination
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A woman who was sexually harassed, assaulted and abused by her boss while working as a personal assistant has received the province's highest-ever award for this type of discrimination, according to B.C.'s Human Rights Tribunal.
A woman who was sexually harassed, assaulted and abused by her boss while working as a personal assistant has received the province's highest-ever award for this type of discrimination, according to B.C.'s Human Rights Tribunal.
In a decision earlier this month, Sydney Richard Hayden was ordered to pay the complainant, referred to as Ms. L, $100,000 for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect – an unprecedented amount that the tribunal said was warranted because of the "extremely serious" nature of the discrimination, the length of time over which it took place, the complaint's vulnerability, and its devastating impact.
"During her employment, Mr. Hayden sexually assaulted and harassed Ms. L, withheld her wages, emotionally abused her, physically assaulted her, and abandoned her in a foreign country," tribunal member Devyn Cousineau wrote.
"She is now a completely different person than she was before the discrimination," Cousineau later wrote.
Ms. L was claiming discrimination based on sex and disability, bringing the complaint against Hayden and his two companies Clear Pacific Holdings Ltd. and Whitehawk Investments Ltd.
"This complaint arises out of a 21-month employment relationship poisoned by sexual, economic, emotional, and physical abuse," the decision says.
Hayden never filed a response and did not appear at the hearing, which proceeded without him in August of 2023.
