A recent Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (the “Tribunal”) decision highlights the Tribunal’s continued reliance on its past decisions to determine appropriate damages awards in human rights claims, while also signalling an evolving approach to damages. In particular, the Tribunal’s decision in McConnell v. Hibbert, 2026 HRTO 579 (“McConnell”), demonstrates how inflation could push damages awards higher, even where the misconduct at issue falls within established cases and categories. This article explores the Tribunal’s reasoning, the emerging role of inflation in damages analysis, and the implications for employers navigating human rights disputes.
In McConnell, the applicant filed an application to the Tribunal alleging discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex in employment, contrary to the Ontario Human Rights Code (the “Code”), filing the application against a respondent employer, as well as a respondent individual. Specifically, the applicant alleged that the respondent individual, an executive of the management company who operated the site at which the employee was working, rubbed against him in a sexual manner, put a hand on his back and his lower abdomen, and proceeded to move his hands up towards the applicant’s neck and beginning to choke him while positioning himself behind the applicant, before walking away.
The employer respondent had previously settled directly with the applicant, who then sought to continue the application...
The President of the Association of Yorubas in Diaspora, South Africa, Dr Olusola Agbeniyi, has asked the senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, to desist from making what he described ...