Resort ordered to pay staff fired for being white
Human Rights Tribunal says owner wanted to ‘reduce labour costs’ by hiring Chinese workers
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has ruled in favour of seven people who claim they were fired from a resort in the Cariboo because they are Caucasian.
In her decision, tribunal chair Diana Juricevic awarded seven employees of the Spruce Hill Resort and Spa near 108 Mile Ranch more than $173,000, saying they were credible in their claim that owner Kin Wa Chan wanted to replace Caucasian employees with Chinese employees to save money.
“Over a period of months, Mr. Chan repeatedly said that he wanted to replace Caucasian employees with ethnically Chinese employees to reduce labour costs,” Juricevic wrote in the Oct. 24 decision.
Postmedia reached out to Chan but has not received a response.
Juricevic wrote that Chan had described Chinese work- ers as better and cheaper than white workers, and that they do not need to be paid for holidays or overtime.
Chan bought the resort in 2015, and began major renovations the following year, according to the decision. During the repair work, staff was reduced.
Seven of the employees that were kept on during the renovations ended up filing the human rights complaint, after they were fired the following summer or resigned because of a hostile work environment, according to the decision. The employees were replaced with Chinese staff.
At issue, Juricevic writes, is whether the employees were terminated in part because of their race, colour, ancestry or place of origin, or forced to resign as a result of a discriminatory work environment. The tribunal determined that they were discriminated against because of race.
In a diary entry, Chan’s bookkeeper Melonie Eva wrote that Chan repeatedly said he wanted cheap Chinese labour.
Eva also testified that Chan sexually harassed her while on a trip to China to buy supplies. According to the decision, she became upset when Chan booked only one hotel room for them both.
She testified that he told her to “relax” and that “in China we do things the Chinese way.” Eva testified that she told Chan she was married and would not share a room, so he booked another room. Chan said it was a misunderstanding and that he only booked one room to save money.
The tribunal found that Chan was not credible and ordered him to pay more than $173,000 in damages, divided up in varying amounts to the employees.