Incident shouldn’t cost a person’s job
LETTERS
Kelly Pocha should pursue an unlawful dismissal against her employer. Here’s the situation: she gets drunk and acts out ignorantly against several immigrant Canadians who record part of her tirade. They make a national issue out of it, including hate crime overtones, with the media’s assistance. She apologizes profusely and publicly, saying there is more to the encounter than what is in the recording.
There is no complete version of the encounter on record. Also, she is a controller at a car dealership. She is not the business media face nor a sales representative. Her job is known because her right to privacy has been breached by the media. She was never arrested or charged by the police with a hate crime nor any other crime; nor has one been proven. All parties involved were asked to leave the restaurant and complied.
So after the real evidence is distilled, we have on record part of an argument where a woman felt insulted by some men talking a foreign language, thinking they were commenting negatively about her. This caused her to lose her temper and say some nasty things. No police involvement and no charges. Legally speaking, what we have here is nothing. It is at best a “cause disturbance in a public place” but police never attended so that avenue is not available any longer. I think a court would see it that way and side with the woman in an unlawful dismissal suit.
If I was her employer I would have stated that I would be disappointed with my employee if the altercation had been processed by authorities and she was found guilty; but that she was not. I would stress that my employee has apologized sincerely for her part in the incident and that accordingly I would be prepared to support her. I would stress that the incident was not investigated properly by anyone with authority and that we need to be careful about basing our opinions on a partial story that has apparently been sensationalized and overstated by the media in a one-sided manner.
It is a dangerous and slippery slope when a person can lose their career over an incident that is insufficiently recorded and not even reported to or investigated by police. Guilty in the public opinion as the result of inadequate evidence does not prove anything and should not cost any Canadian their career.
John Dodds
Victoria, B.C.