By Howard Levitt and Anoushka Zachariah
Being asked to apologize to your co-workers, particularly when you believe you have done nothing wrong, can be a difficult pill to swallow. For one employee who was asked to apologize as part of a disciplinary process, refusing to do so led to his termination. The case was recently addressed by the Ontario Court of Appeal.
In 2017, A.O. Smith Enterprises Limited terminated a 20-year employee for just cause following an investigation into a sexual harassment complaint made by a female co-worker. According to the ruling, the employee, John Hucsko, was accused of making comments which included asking the complainant to sit on a male colleague’s lap in front of coworkers, and of making sexually suggestive comments while thrusting his hips.
The actions were found by the company to have clearly amounted to sexual harassment. As a result, Smith Enterprises chose to discipline Hucsko, and offered him the opportunity to take sensitivity training and make a direct apology to the complainant — the latter which he refused to do.
The employer found that Hucsko’s refusal to apologize demonstrated a lack of remorse for his misconduct, significantly damaging the employment relationship, and ultimately terminated him for just cause. A just cause dismissal is frequently characterized by the courts as the “capital punishment” of employment law — leaving the employee without any termination notice, severance, or even EI benefits.
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