When does a workplace label become discrimination? Ontario just drew the line
A manager called a Chinese employee "Shanghai Woman" in front of her colleagues. The employee had been living with chronic depression for more than a year. She was terminated weeks later. On February 10, 2026, Adjudicator Rosamaria Longo of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario dismissed a discrimination application filed by Yiming Liu, a Guest Service Agent, against Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Centre and three individual respondents, after Arbitrator Gail Misra found no substance to Liu's human rights allegations.
Liu, originally from Shanghai, China, alleged that her manager Gina He referred to her as a "Shanghai Woman" during a front desk staff meeting on September 30, 2017. Liu argued the term was pejorative and constituted discrimination based on her place of origin under the Code.
Arbitrator Gail Misra, who presided over the eight-day termination grievance hearing, found no evidence to support that. As recorded in the HRTO decision, Misra found the term was akin to calling someone a "Torontonian."
Misra concluded there was no substance to this human rights allegation. Liu was reinstated after Misra separately found that the hotel had not established just cause for her termination.
Liu stated she had suffered from chronic depression since July 2016 due to work-related stress. She alleged that once she developed depression, she was unjustly...
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