A 13-year-old Black girl who was wrongly singled out on suspicion of theft by her manager at a Vancouver juice bar has been awarded more than $27,000 in damages for discrimination.
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has found that because of her race and sex, the young worker was subjected to a “poisoned” work environment at Heirloom, a restaurant and juice bar in the upscale South Granville neighbourhood.
The teen’s identity has been protected by the tribunal, and she is referred to as AB in a decision handed down on Friday. It says bias drove manager Nicholas Stone’s decision to confront the teen — and none of her co-workers — about shortages in the cash register.
Is 13 a normal age to be working in Canada? That seems a bit young.
Each province has their own rules. Here is BC’s age-related laws which allow for children aged 12 and up to work under strict conditions.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Human Rights Tribunal has found that because of her race and sex, the young worker was subjected to a “poisoned” work environment at Heirloom, a restaurant and juice bar in the upscale South Granville neighbourhood.
After the original confrontation, and despite the restaurant owner’s evidence that cash shortages are common and usually the result of innocent mistakes, AB was relegated to working in the back of the store, the decision says.
Though Stone disputed her recollection of his comments, he acknowledged that he spoke to AB about the shortages, claiming it was his usual practice to speak with workers about this kind of thing, the decision says.
Greer testified that he believed there had been a misunderstanding, because cash register shortages usually happened because of mistakes by inexperienced workers and were “not a big deal.”
Stone refused to write a reference letter for the teen, explaining that it was because she had shown up for work on a few occasions without wearing a Heirloom t-shirt and had been “just rude” in recent weeks.
“No one at Heirloom showed any care or concern when 13-year-old AB made clear that she was resigning because she felt unsafe, unwelcomed, uncomfortable, and distrusted in the workplace,” the decision says.
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