HRM Employment Law: Analysis of a Workplace Harassment Case

This report analyzes a case involving a Walmart employee, Meredith Boucher, who faced harassment and mistreatment from her manager, Jason Pinnock, leading to a lawsuit. The report examines violations of the Ontario Human Rights Code, Occupational Health & Safety Act, and employment-related laws. It highlights the manager's abusive behavior, including verbal abuse, ignoring the employee's health concerns, and ignoring a physical assault by a coworker. The report discusses the legal issues, the organization's implications, and the importance of addressing such issues. The report emphasizes the impact of workplace harassment on the organization's reputation, finances, and employee productivity. It also highlights the need for strict actions against all forms of workplace misconduct, including physical violence and inappropriate behavior. The report concludes that employment law is crucial for protecting employee rights and ensuring a healthy work environment.

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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Assessment of the Law...............................................................................................................2
Argument on underlined legal issue...........................................................................................3
Implication for the organization.................................................................................................3
Any other issue in the case.........................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The article discussed in the report is based on the violation of employment law
generated by the Canadian Law regulation. The case talks about the misbehavior and ill-
treatment caused to a female employer named as Meredith Boucher at Windsor Walmart in
Canada by her manager Jason Pinnock. She stated that the disrespectful behavior of her boss
started due to her refusal to carry out an incorrect and illegal task assigned by the manager. In
her testimony, she revealed that the manager has been abusing her with offensive and
demeaning words in front of other staff members and has also been forcing her to do
meaningless tasks in spite of her incapability due to sickness. She also reported an incident
where she was being punched by the coworker and the manger irresponsibly ignored her
pleading. After tolerating this highly disrespectful behavior of the manager for quite a long
time, she sued the company and the manager and claimed for the compensation due to the
damages being caused (The Star, 2012).
This report studies the legal issues and problems involved in this case and based on
the management and legal learnings it deduces the important aspects of this case.
Assessment of the Law
The presented employment-related case involves the harassment and abuse of the
female employee by her manager and is prohibited according to Ontario Human Rights Code,
1990 which focuses on the discriminative behavior of the employer or the manager towards
the staff (McMillan, 2011).
This act by the manager is unethical and immoral. In this case, Boucher is being
discriminated indirectly as the manager was aware of her sickness and inability to work that
day, despite it, the manager ignored the concerned reasons and with abusive and demeaning
words, he denied for the leave and overburdened her with the work. It represents that the
workplace is not safe for the employees as it involves the violation of human dignity and
respect (Government of Ontario, 2016).
This case also violets Occupational Health & Safety Act and employment-related law
which takes into account the harassment or the abusive actions caused to the person by
another employee, manager, client or customer. (Government of Ontario, 2016).
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission helps in investigating the complaints
against the misconduct of the employer or the organization when the person reports of such

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practices. Further, in accordance with the Federal anti-discrimination law, a person should
not tolerate the abusive behavior and must report directly to them for the required legal
actions (Stimson, 2019).
Managers are meant to supervise and coach the employee while following the
standards and the rightful acts. If the manger threatens or harasses the employee, then they
must immediately complain about it to the higher authorities and must take legal actions
against such deeds (Galt, 2007).
Argument on underlined legal issue
The issue raised in the case by the Boucher is highly pertinent. Walmart’s
management ignored numerous incidents of Pinnock’s ill behavior towards the Boucher. It
also depicts the irresponsible behavior of higher authorities at Walmart as they did little
research and investigation in seeking the evidence against Pinnock’s behavior. This made the
situation more critical and raising voice against the manager and the organization became
more obvious and justified. Employees tend to ignore the abusive or violent behavior most of
the time at the workplace due to the fear of dismissal or losing the job. This ignorance and
tolerance not only promote the wrongful act of the abuser but also deteriorates the
environment of the organization (Occupational Health and Safety, 2006).
Implication for the organization
This inappropriate and bullying behavior results in various unwanted consequences
for the organization. Walmart is a large organization and involves a compact involvement of
the customers and clients. It covers a significant fraction in providing employment to the
people and a large number of clients and customers are bonded with the organization. Hence,
the legal case and charges on the company can result in a huge loss. People may boycott the
company which can cause a significant decrease in sales. It might even cause stakeholders to
take back their stocks and shares form the organization. The compensation that is being
claimed by the Boucher is a hefty amount of around 1.5 million dollars, which can highly
affect the finances of the company. It involves reduced average productivity of the
organization as a whole (Funk, 2016).
Compensation claims by the victim turns out to be heavy on pockets of the employer.
The legal issues and the charges for such harassment acts lead to the deterioration in the
reputation of the employer and the organization which results in the decline of the market
value and shredded bonds with the clients and business parties. Resignation of the victim

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turns in to the recruitment and hiring of new candidates for the position which requires
spending of the significant amount of time and money in their training (Gordon, 2019).
Any violation against the law can cause severe damage to the organization or the
employer. They must be respectful and honest about their responsibility and duties. Parallel
with this must also maintain a healthy, friendly and secure environment to the employee.
Irrespective of gender, age, race and ethnicity, the employees must be treated with utter
respectfulness (Qahwash, 2020).
Any other issue in the case
Another issue that can be detected in this case is that the employees who caused the
physical violence to the Boucher by punching twice on her arm must also be reported for the
legal action. Punching and hitting should not be ignored or taken for granted, as this could
result in massive fights and violence. The wrongdoers must be punished for this act, as this
will spread the importance of disciplined conduct among the employee. None of the act
which causes discomfort to the person is acceptable or tolerable. The law also takes into
account the charges for not taking steps against the employee who showed violent behavior
towards Boucher. Any reckless behavior demands strict actions against them as it creates a
sense of fear among the employees and it makes them refrain to indulge in any kind of
abusive or violent act. Apart from this, there are several other actions which are often ignored
such as molestation, stalking, catcalling, inappropriate commenting and flirting with the
opposite gender which makes them feel uncomfortable is also an offense and should be
immediately reported as it can be counted as a legal issue (ICLG, 2019).

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Conclusion
This report concludes that employment law plays a major role in safeguarding and
securing the rights of the employees in an organization. Hostile and malignant work
environment results in the deterioration of the company’s growth and productivity. It highly
affects the reputation of the organization in the market. Legal charges against the company
due to any ill-treatment or harassment lead to a decline in the current status and can lead to
bankruptcy as well. Workplace harassment or abusive behavior should not be ignored as it
intensifies the violence and hence needs to identified and dealt at the earliest. The hefty
punitive charges that have been applied to the company are acceptable as it would remind
them of the past ill experiences of harassment or violation of the law and would provoke
them to refrain from such misconducts in the future.

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References
Funk, C. (2016, 02 12). Harassment: Effects On People and Organisations. Retrieved 02 28,
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effects/
Galt, V. (2007, 10 05). Cracking down on workplace harassment. Retrieved 02 28, 2020,
from The Globe and Mail:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/cracking-down-on-workplace-
harassment/article1083645/
Gordon, S. (2019, 07 05). The Effects of Workplace Bullying. Retrieved 02 28, 2020, from
verywellmind: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-the-effects-of-workplace-
bullying-460628
Government of Ontario. (2016, 09). Workplace Violence and Harassment: Understanding
the Law. Retrieved 02 28, 2020, from Ontario.ca:
https://files.ontario.ca/wpvh_guide_english.pdf
ICLG. (2019, 04 03). Canada: Employement ad Labour Law. Retrieved 02 28, 2020, from
https://iclg.com/practice-areas/employment-and-labour-laws-and-regulations/canada
McMillan. (2011). employment law in Canada: provincially regulated employers. Retrieved
02 28, 2020, from https://mcmillan.ca/files/Employment%20Law%20in%20Canada
%20-%20provincially%20regulated%20employers.pdf
Occupational Health and Safety. (2006, 11 01). Dealing with a Hostile Employee. Retrieved
02 29, 2020, from Occupational Health and Safety:
https://ohsonline.com/calendar/2017/03/shrm-employment-law-legislative-
conference.aspx
Qahwash, Y. (2020, 02 24). The do’s and don’ts of handling emotions in the workplace.
Retrieved 02 29, 2020, from workforce: https://www.workforce.com/news/the-dos-
and-donts-of-handling-emotions-in-the-workplace
Stimson, J. (2019, 03 01). How to File a Complaint Against an Abusive Employer. Retrieved
02 28, 2020, from Chron: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/file-complaint-against-
abusive-employer-16130.html
The Star. (2012). Mistreated Walmart employee gets $1.46M. Canada: The Star. Retrieved 02
27, 2020, from
https://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/2012/10/31/mistreated_walmart_e
mployee_gets_146m.html