BC woman sexually assaulted at work awarded $100,000 in discrimination case
A BC woman who endured physical, sexual, and financial abuse at the hands of her boss has been awarded $100,000 by the BC Human Rights Tribunal — the highest amount for sexual harassment and assault in the tribunal’s history.
The woman, identified only as Ms. L in a recent court decision, worked as a personal assistant for nearly two years for a man named Sydney Richard Hayden. During that time, the court decision says she was sexually assaulted, physically assaulted, and at one point left behind in Mexico with no money to return home.
The court decision also says Hayden, who is 17 years older than Ms. L, exploited her substance use disorder (a dependency on cocaine) to maintain control over her. He would also withhold her wages, always owing her some money, and she would be forced to return to work to collect it.
The boss did not attend the court proceedings.
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The tribunal member sided with the personal assistant, agreeing her treatment was discrimination based on her sex and substance use disorder. It awarded her $100,000 as compensation — the highest the tribunal has ever awarded for sexual harassment and assault.
“In my view, the increase is justified, first, by the nature of the discrimination, which lasted longer than other cases, pervaded almost all aspects of Ms. L’s employment, and included physical and sexual violence,” tribunal member Devyn Cousineau wrote. “Second, Ms. L has presented evidence of a lifelong impact on all aspects of her life.”
In addition to the $100,000, the tribunal has ordered her former employer to pay nearly $62,000 for wages lost because of discrimination and nearly $9,000 for expenses incurred because of discrimination.
BC’s Human Rights Tribunal uses a balance of probabilities, meaning something more likely than not happened. These allegations have not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal court.