Alberta court backs dismissal of worker's human rights complaint
A reorganization can complicate even the cleanest return from medical leave — for one Alberta caseworker, it proved fatal to her discrimination complaint.
Justice Kelsey Becker Brookes upheld the dismissal of her human rights case on Aug. 17, 2026, finding that a department-wide shake-up had swallowed her return-to-work dispute along with everyone else's.
The casework supervisor worked at Alberta's Children and Family Services since November 2017 and went on approved medical leave in June 2021 for a psychological injury, with workers' compensation benefits.
She linked that injury to two events. She alleged that at a 2019 staff Christmas party, a manager showed her a pornographic image, which she said may have been of a child, and that as a survivor of sexual abuse, she found it deeply distressing. In 2021, she learned that a client she had worked with closely had been killed in an accident. Neither incident was ever tested or decided.
When she spoke with her manager about returning to work in August 2022, their accounts diverged. She said she was told there was no position for her and that her replacement had been made permanent. The employer said she was simply told she would return to a new site because of a department-wide reorganization.
She filed a human rights complaint in August 2022, alleging discrimination based on age, gender, mental disability, and race. The commission's...
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