Image Credit: FACEBOOK: John Howard Society Okanagan & Kootenay

An Okanagan charity that helps marginalized people has failed in its bid to have a BC Human Rights Tribunal case against them thrown out after a former employee claimed her disabilities were not accommodated and then she was fired.

According to a recently published July 31 BC Human Rights Tribunal decision, the John Howard Society Okanagan and Kootenay applied to dismiss a case from former live-in support worker Megan Redmond.

In the decision, Redmond claims the John Howard Society didn't accommodate her brain injury and related cognitive difficulties and then fired her when she said she would be contacting the Human Rights Tribunal.

The John Howard Society denied the allegations and argued the case had no merit and should be thrown out.

However, the Tribunal disagreed and said Redmond may have a case which could only be decided at a hearing.

The Tribunal's move isn't a win for Redmond, but an acknowledgment that she'd taken the complaint "out of the realm of conjecture."

The issue dates back to 2020 when Redmond started working for the John Howard Society as a part-time outreach and community inclusion worker.

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She was given a work laptop but a few months later this was taken away from her. Months later her work cell phone was taken away. She said the technology greatly helped her with her organization and managing her disabilities.

"Redmond alleges that John Howard Society failed to accommodate her by removing her work laptop," the decision read.

Several months later she was hired as a contractor for a live-in support worker position.

The decision goes through a play-by-play account of months Redmond worked there.

She claimed she was told to come to work 15 minutes early with no pay because she was always late. She also had her hours reduced and had the work keys taken from her.

At a meeting, Redmond accused a manager of bullying her, who, in turn, said the situation was reversed and it was the manager who was being bullied by Redmond.

More issues arose when the John Howard Society requested a doctor's note about the accommodations and Redmond said she would be going to the BC Human Rights Tribunal.

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Ultimately, in late 2020 Redmond was fired.

"I cannot at this stage find that John Howard Society has shown there is no reasonable prospect of success of Ms. Redmond proving that her mental disabilities were at least a factor in her termination," the Tribunal ruled.

"The parties disagree on what are in my view foundational issues of the complaint. The evidence before me is that John Howard Society had performance concerns regarding Ms. Redmond but other than a written warning for tardiness, there is no evidence John Howard Society was applying progressive discipline in order to make sure that their expectations were being met," the Tribunal ruled.

The Tribunal went on to say it's not certain that the John Howard Society met its duty to accommodate Redmond's disabilities.

Ultimately, the Tribunal dismissed the John Howard Society's application to dismiss allowing the case to go to a hearing. The Tribunal also encouraged both sides to use mediation services to resolve the matter.

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