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Page 10 SePTeMBeR 14, 2015 • LaW TIMeS www.lawtimesnews.com FOCUS When they arrived at the plant, they quickly found themselves in a sexually poisoned work envi- ronment where they were subject to workplace discrimination be- cause of sex and reprisal. O.P.T. said Pratas repeatedly threatened to send her back to Mexico if she refused to go on dates with him. In the car, he stroked her legs and once told her to pull her pants down and groped her. On another occasion, he forced her to touch him. She said he professed his love for her and offered finan- cial assistance for her children and housing for her in Mexico. She refused the offers. She also felt forced to perform oral sex and have intercourse with him at the Leamington house where she lived with other Mexi- can female migrant workers for fear of being sent back to Mexico. On May 2, 2008, after trying to call her several times, he picked her up, tried to take her cellphone from her, grabbed her purse and emptied it on the side of the road, and pulled her from the car. Sever- al months later, he called her while she was in Mexico, professed his love for her, and said he wanted to visit her and her children. M.P.T. felt the manager's ag- gression on her first day as a work- er at Presteve when he slapped her on the buttocks. Twice while in his office at the plant, she said, he fondled her. And twice in the car while travelling to and from a doctor's appointment, he sexually propositioned her while touching her. He also refused to let her go out for a coffee and threatened to send her back to Mexico. In April 2008, he sent her back to Mexico because she refused to apologize to him for being disrespectful. Human rights lawyer Wade Poziomka of Ross & McBride LLP attributes part of the problem to the temporary foreign worker program because it's a closed sys- tem directly tied to the employer and, as a result, makes the worker particularly vulnerable. "There is some blame for the government as well," he says. "The temporary foreign worker pro- gram needs to be changed from a closed system to an open system so they're not attached to one em- ployer. Creating a system where a temporary foreign worker is lim- ited to one employer significantly increases the vulnerability of the worker and makes the relation- ship more conducive to abuse, harassment, and unfair treat- ment. The federal government is partially to blame for the abuses that occur to temporary foreign workers. It should not be surpris- ing when a system is created that heightens vulnerability and that vulnerability is preyed upon." Poziomka describes Hart's de- cision as an excellent one and says he hopes to see more awards like it in the future. While he acknowl- edges the set of facts in the case were unusual, he expects it will help raise the ceiling for awards. "General damages awards in the province of Ontario are excep- tionally low and in every one of my cases, I argue that they should be higher," says Poziomka , who represents complainants. Paul Boshyk, who works in McMillan LLP's employment and labour relations group, was surprised the award wasn't higher given the facts of the case. "It's certainly a watershed decision in the sense that the bar has been raised in egregious conduct," says Boshyk. While previous human rights awards at the top end have been much lower — at $50,000 in On- tario and $75,000 in British Co- lumbia — the facts in those cases were much different than in this one and didn't involve the same level of egregiousness. Boshyk sees the case as a wake- up call to applicants seeking high amounts in situations that don't raise similarly egregious facts. Adrian Ishak, an employment lawyer at Baker & McKenzie LLP, points out that the case law cited in Presteve Foods essentially chronicles an upward movement in damage awards in recent years. As a result, the 90-page deci- sion could prove helpful in fur- ther cases because it includes an exhaustive summary of previous awards and provides a quantum of the resulting damages. "What struck me was how many issues were addressed," says Ishak. Lundquist sees the case as perhaps laying out the potential for the tribunal to grant higher awards overall, something she thinks will roll out over time. She believes damage awards up until this point haven't ref lected the pain suffered by the com- plainants. "I think the changes are go- ing to be incremental. It has the potential to move things for- ward and time will do the rest. It was a big leap for the tribunal," she says. LT Untitled-5 1 2015-08-20 9:13 AM Our dedicated legal, brokerage, financial, and administrative teams provide the most thorough and expedient service to each and every client. We invite you to contact us today. You can count on us! THE MOST THOROUGH & EXPEDIENT SERVICE GUARANTEED. 1.800.263.8537 | www.henderson.ca HENDERSON STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTS LP PROUD SPONSOR OF SPINAL CORD INJURY ONTARIO AND THE ONTARIO BRAIN INJURY ASSOCIATION PROUD SUPPORTER OF MADD CANADA Untitled-1 1 2015-09-10 7:36 AM Ruling a 'watershed decision' for human rights matters Continued from page 8 Check out lawtimesnews.com for insight from our regular online columnists Monica Goyal discusses the latest gadgets and trends in legal technology in Bits & Bytes

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