Harassment case dogs MLA during Bill 30 talks

Despite his former company being involved in a sexual harassment case, United Conservative Party house leader Jason Nixon maintains there’s no need for the government to legislate workplace harassment policies.

MLAs are mulling Bill 30. Among other changes, it will mandate anti-bullying and harassment policies for all Alberta workplaces.

Last week, Nixon argued against the bill, saying most companies have had such policies for a long time.

“The right way to deal with it is to get the industry to address it, to work through their safety associations ... and they will do it. They’ve already proven it,” he said.

But in 2008, the British Columbia human rights tribunal found a Nixon Safety Consulting employee named Kori Harrison was sexually harassed at a Kelowna work site, then fired when she complained.

THE CASE

Nixon’s company was one of four respondents named in the case, alongside Con-Forte Contracting and Navigator Development — both based in Calgary — and a man named Greg Ford.

At the time, Nixon’s company was providing occupational health and safety services to Navigator, and hired Harrison as an on-site safety officer. There, she worked alongside Ford, an independent contractor hired by Navigator as the senior project manager.

Harrison later testified before the tribunal about numerous incidents involving Ford, including explicit comments, being slapped on the buttocks and offered truck tires in exchange for sex.

Nixon tried to find solutions when Harrison raised the issue, but ultimately Navigator told him they didn’t want his employee on the work site.

Human rights tribunal member Kurt Neuenfeldt wrote in his ruling that Ford sexually harassed Harrison, and that Nixon Safety Consulting (NSC) fired her when she complained.

“I find that NSC terminated her employment at the urging of Navigator, and with the tacit approval of Con-Forte,” Neuenfeldt added.

He awarded her about $32,000 in damages and lost earnings.

DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY

Nixon told Postmedia on Monday he would deal differently with the situation now — he would push back harder on the client who refused to have Harrison on the site any longer, he said, and hire a B.C. legal counsel.

But he is adamant changes under Bill 30 — which puts the onus on employers and supervisors to take measures to prevent harassment in the workplace — wouldn’t have changed the situation.

“It’s not enough to write stuff down and say, ‘This is wrong,’ ” he said. “There has to be a clear way to teach people how to (deal with harassment) and help them execute it appropriately.

“Any time we’ve made large advancements on occupational safety, it’s been driven by industry.”