B.C. company cites restructuring as reason for dismissal
A worker who came back from medical leave after complaining of bullying by his boss was the fired, purportedly because of restructuring.
The worker, who rose from warehouse manager to operations manager within a year, said the real reason he was let go was his complaint about his supervisor’s conduct.
In a ruling dated July 30, 2026, vice chair Anand Banerjee of British Columbia’s Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal turned down the employer’s appeal and upheld an earlier finding that the firing was retaliation, a prohibited action under the province’s Workers Compensation Act.
The worker joined the company in 2021 as a warehouse manager and climbed to operations manager within a year. His boss was later promoted too, to general manager over several branches, leaving nobody standing between the two of them.
In November 2023, he told the company’s human resources department that his boss’s behaviour amounted to bullying and harassment. Within days, he went on medical leave, which he said was because of the toll that treatment had taken on him.
Before he was due back, the worker emailed to ask whether his concerns had been dealt with. On Feb. 14, 2024, the company’s benefits and program coordinator wrote back that his boss would stay on as general manager and keep working out of his branch.
“We don’t anticipate any significant changes in the management structure at this time,” she...
Immigration enforcement have made arrests in connection with a suspected criminal network believed to be behind dozens of fake asylum claims from people pretending to be gay. It follows a BBC inve...