A part-time London Drugs pharmacy assistant has brought a BC human rights complaint against his former employer.
According to a preliminary BC Human Rights Tribunal decision, the employee claimed that his experience working at London Drugs was “rife with bullying, harassment, poor management, and retaliation.”
He claimed that retaliation led to the police getting involved and having to have an involuntary stay in a psychiatric ward.
Despite the Canadian pharmacy’s application to dismiss the complaint, the tribunal has allowed portions of the employee’s claims to move forward.
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The employee’s basis of discrimination was because of his mental disabilities, which he says included autism and depression.
In defence, the accused suggested that he was suffering from increasing performance and behaviour issues and that they were worried about his wellbeing.
The employee worked at the pharmacy between February 2018 and April 2019.
The tribunal decision states that the employee said, “Starting from March 2018, he repeatedly raised concerns with management about the way the pharmacy was functioning and the inequitable distribution of tasks between himself and other pharmacy staff.”
In 2019, he moved forward with a bullying complaint through WorkSafeBC; however, it was found that his claims were unsubstantiated.
The respondents in the case said they were worried about specific phrases that the employee was using, like a comment to the effect of him saying “he would die soon.”
He denied suggesting anything suicidal, which was what the employees were concerned about. Instead, he said he was referring to his inability to afford food.
There were a couple of days when the employee could not be reached, and when his coworkers couldn’t reach him, they called the police to perform a mental health check.
According to the tribunal decision, “On February 14, 2019, the police located [employee] and detained him under the Mental Health Act. [Employee] says that he was held in the psychiatric ward of the hospital for three days.”
After the stay, he told the tribunal the “doctor informed him that they needed to assess him because his employer had said he was ‘dangerous’ and ‘delusional.'”
“[Employee] states that on April 1, 2019, the respondents removed him from the employee WhatsApp group chat. He states that he felt forced to quit his employment after this act of ‘hostility,'” the decision states.
The employee mentioned the names of specific London Drugs employees, but the tribunal dismissed claims against those particular employees. Instead, his case will proceed against London Drugs as a whole.
London Drugs also responded to the complaint.
“The institutional employer London Drugs submits, and I accept, that it has the capacity, and is better placed, to fulfill any remedies the tribunal may order. London Drugs further submits that it accepts responsibility for the actions of the individual respondents in this matter and will fulfill any applicable remedies,” the tribunal said.
In response to a request from comment, London Drugs told Daily Hive the following:
“We respect the BC Human Rights process available to employees. We respect the tribunal for accepting London Drugs’ position in part to date. London Drugs denies discriminating and has numerous policies and procedures in place intended to protect the health and safety of our employees and customers. We do not comment on individual allegations ongoing before the tribunal.“
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