Law Times

LAW TIMES / MAY 5, 2008 NEWS PAGE 3 Evangelical group created 'poisoned' work environment for lesbian BY TIM NAUMETZ For Law Times OTTAWA — A scathing Ontario Human Rights Tribunal judgment against an evan- gelical group that created a "poisoned" work environment for a lesbian employee will re- verberate throughout the province, says the Ontario Human Rights Commission lawyer who worked on the case. The ruling ordered Christian Horizons, Ontario's largest provider of community liv- ing services for the developmentally disabled, to pay Connie Heintz a total of $23,000 in damages and nearly two years in lost wages for the way it treated her. The judgment, written by adjudicator Michael Gottheil, pulled no punches in its denunciation of Christian Horizons for willfully and recklessly inflicting "mental an- guish" upon Heintz after she disclosed her sexual orientation to co-workers. It also condemned a "lifestyle and moral- ity statement" in an employment contract that Christian Horizons insisted Heintz and all of the group's 2,500 employees had to sign as a condition of employment. The statement declared, in an exhaustive list of unacceptable conduct, that Christian Horizons rejected homosexual relationships as being "incompatible with effective Chris- tian counselling ideals, standards and values." Raj Dhir, counsel for the human rights commission, called the ruling a "tremendous accomplishment" for Heintz. She obtained employment with Christian Horizons in 1995 and became aware of her sexual orien- tation in 1999, when she confided her secret to two co-workers and also began a sexual relationship with a woman. She resigned a year later under increas- ing stress and pressure from managers, an unproven allegation of mistreating a patient, and what Gottheil described as "tainted" al- legations of harassment from another woman working in the same residence. "I have found that Christian Ho- style and morality statement, it imposed a discriminatory condition of employ- ment on Ms. Heintz, which ultimately resulted in the loss of her job." The morality statement also required sig- natories to reject conduct "such as" extramari- tal relationships, which the statement termed adultery; premarital sex, which it termed for- nication; reading or viewing pornography; theft and fraud; physical aggression; abusive behaviour; sexual harassment or assault; lying and deceit; and the use of illicit drugs. "Second, Christian Horizons infringed rizons violated Ms. Heintz's right to be free from discrimination in two re- spects," wrote Gottheil, also tribunal chairman. "First, by requiring that all employees sign and conform to the life- U.S.-style sniffing sought Continued from page 1 the Court of Appeal unanimously held a youth court judge was right to acquit a student who was charged with drug possession for trafficking after the sniffing-dog search in Sarnia. "This was a warrantless, ran- Ontario appealed the case after spread throughout Ontario. He says schools should teach students respect for constitutional rights and civil liberties and "you don't teach them that by arbitrarily confining them, separating their backpacks, and searching them with dogs." Binnie noted that a divided dom search which was not autho- rized by either the criminal law or the Education Act," wrote Binnie. Police, at the principal's earlier general invitation, randomly se- lected a day to have their drug dog sniff backpacks at the school, while school authorities detained all the students in their classrooms. "As with briefcases, purses and suitcases, backpacks are the re- pository of much that is personal, particularly for people who lead itinerant lifestyles during the day as in the case of students and trav- ellers," wrote Binnie. "No doubt ordinary businessmen and busi- nesswomen riding along on public transit or going up and down on elevators in office towers would be outraged at any suggestion that the contents of their briefcases could randomly be inspected by the police without 'reasonable suspicion' of illegality." Lisus notes the Sarnia dog team had already performed more than 140 drug searches in high schools and the tactic has become wide- U.S. Supreme Court has declined to grant any constitutional protec- tion against unwarranted searches by narcotic sniffer dogs and "the result of this U.S. jurisprudence is that use of police sniffer dogs for crime investigation sits entirely outside the Fourth Amendment." AM's lawyer, Walter Fox, says police and prosecutors were seek- ing the wider use of sniffer dogs available to U.S. police. Frank Addario, representing Ms. Heintz's right to be free from dis- crimination in employment by creating or permitting a poisoned work atmosphere, and by failing to take necessary measures to ensure Ms. Heintz did not have to en- dure discrimination at work because of her sexual orientation." "It's not the public funding per se," Dhir Ball. S. CEL 4/30/08 10:43 AM Page 1 tells Law Times. "It's the fact that you're serving the broad public. That's the way the tribunal distinguished it. It held that ultimately they were primarily engaged in serving individuals with disabilities, not Covering the widest range of topics … More than 5,000 cases cited! Canadian inatory," Gottheil bluntly wrote. "(It) is based on an albeit sincere belief that homosexuality is a sin, and by extension, homosexuals are sinners. No matter an individual's competency to provide quality and loving care to residents, no matter an individual's skill, experience and training, no mat- ter an individual's Christian faith com- mitment, purely because of personal, human characteristic Christian Hori- zons' policy excludes the gay or lesbian individual from employment or forces him or her to deny or conceal their sexuality." LT Also available on CD-ROM or Internet! Employment Law Stacey Reginald Ball, of the Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta Bars " … the most comprehensive text on employment law in Canada. It is carefully constructed and accurate." evangelical Christians. "The decision clearly has significant impact for faith-based and other orga- nizations that provide publicly funded services to the general public," he says. "The message is that these organiza- tions have to ensure that their hiring policies and practices are not restrictive or exclusive when they are providing services to the broader public." "Christian Horizons' policy is discrim- Canadian Bar Review the Ontario Criminal Lawyers' As- sociation as an intervener, agreed the court has reigned in the police. "If the two public places identi- fied in these appeals, bus terminals and schools, are a proper hunting ground for enthusiastic police in- vestigators, where else could they go?" he asks rhetorically. "Could they go to grocery Canadian Employment Law is a one-stop reference that provides a thorough survey of the law. Presented in two volumes, it clearly analyzes current law and developing trends, suggests potential avenues of attack as well as identifies potential weaknesses in the law. The subject-matter is wide-ranging and addresses issues such as: • wrongful dismissal • fiduciary obligations • tort law and vicarious liability issues • remedies • constitutional issues • occupational health and safety • employment contracts • duty of good faith and fidelity and human rights ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY! 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