Former gas station worker awarded $60k for discrimination, withheld pay
Vulnerable immigrants who aren’t aware of employment standards can be taken advantage of. That’s exactly what happened according to a decision by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.
Harika Kasagoni brought forward a human rights complaint against her former employer, Kuldip Singh, who owns some Husky gas stations in Metro Vancouver.
Kasagoni is from a small village in India, and working for Singh was her first job. He agreed to help her get permanent residency through BC’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). In the process, he referred her to an immigration consultant, who charged her $6,500 to be paid to Singh in addition to the consultant’s own fees.
Kasagoni fell and injured herself in the gas station parking lot while walking to the bus after her shift, leading to a WorkSafeBC claim, which was accepted. The injuries persisted and led to a chronic pain condition, and her employment ended.
Singh didn’t believe that Kasagoni’s fall happened at work. Kasagoni alleged that Singh pressured her to drop her WorkSafeBC claim, and she was threatened and frightened by his behaviour, while Singh denies that this happened.
But because her employment ended, she lost her PNP support for permanent residency, leaving her immigration status in a lurch.
Kasagoni alleges discrimination
In the human rights complaint, Kasagoni alleged that Singh discriminated against her in her employment based on disability arising from her fall:
- by underpaying her
- by harassing her about her disability-related WorkSafeBC claim
- by terminating her employment
- and by forcing her to pay $6,500 to support her PNP application but then withdrawing his support
Kasagoini alleges that Singh took advantage of her “racialized newcomer to Canada with a precarious immigration status.” Singh denies discriminating, maintaining that he treated her well but “ultimately lost trust in her when he determined that she had lied about her fall.” Singh denies terminating her employment, saying that she just never returned to work, and denies withdrawing support for her PNP application.
The decision
Ultimately, the Human Rights Tribunal found that Kasagoni’s claims were partly justified, finding that Singh did discriminate against Kasagoni based on her ethnicity and harassed her in connection to her disability. They dismissed the allegations of the $6,500 to support her PNP, however.
The tribunal ordered that Kasagoni be compensated for lost wages, expenses, and injury to her dignity, feelings, and self-respect.
Singh underpaying Kasagoni “cannot be disentangled from her identity as a young, racialized woman from rural India,” reads the decision. Because she was a newcomer to Canada, she wasn’t familiar with employment laws and minimum standards.
“She trusted Mr. Singh and counted on him. Mr. Singh knew this; he says he saw her like a daughter. While this may seem like a nice sentiment, it can create conditions for abuse in an employment context, as I find it did here,” reads the decision.
The cost
Sighn will have to pay Kasagoni $24,517.17 as compensation for wages lost because of the discrimination.
She will also be compensated for a few other things, including the tax consequences of receiving a lump sum payment of wages, compensation for expenses incurred because of the discrimination, and $1,000 for compensation for improper conduct.
And finally, she is set to receive $35,000 as compensation for injury to her dignity, feelings, and self-respect. In total, it’s more than $60,000.
In BC, people have employment standards and human rights protection, but newcomers might not know this, leaving them vulnerable to being taken advantage of. For more information on BC’s human rights code, you can ask the BC Human Rights Clinic.
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