A knee injury, a reorg, and a tribunal ruling HR can't ignore
An employee's knee injury didn't disappear when his job did. British Columbia's human rights tribunal found that a national electronics retailer discriminated against him when it fired him during a companywide restructuring, while his accommodation claim was still active.
In a decision issued August 5, 2026, Tribunal Member Amber Prince of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal found that Best Buy Canada discriminated against a former assistant store leader when it eliminated his position and terminated his employment during the company's annual reorganization process. The tribunal ordered Best Buy to pay the worker more than $60,000 in lost wages, expenses and damages for injury to his dignity, on top of interest.
The worker joined Best Buy in 2018 and was promoted twice over roughly two and a half years, moving from a sales associate role to team lead and eventually to assistant store leader in November 2020. Around the same time, he began experiencing knee pain that a doctor initially linked to varicose veins. By March 2021, the pain had worsened to the point that he struggled to stand or walk for more than 15 minutes at a stretch.
Doctors recommended sedentary duties, and the worker asked his store leader and Best Buy's human resources team to consider a transfer to a role that involved less time on his feet. He also applied for other positions...
Dr. Helen Boerman, once a leader at Remnant Fellowship Church, used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a $7 million home, prosecutors said. She was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison an...