April Fools! It would never happen because in the minds of our "human rights" minders, members of downtrodden minorities who hurl epithets (such as that "apes 'n' pigs" slur) are themselves incapable of prejudice. If such a complaint was brought to Babsy Hall's "human rights" cops, it would never pass muster, and wouldn't make to the tribunal stage. No, what really happened (of course) is that a chick was called a "Paki" by her boss and has been duly compensated. From the National Post:
Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think it was very nice of Mr. Tompkins to have called her a "Paki," but do we really need the government to intercede, like an tut-tutting Miss Manners, and tell grown-ups the proper way to behave? I think not. Also, there's a built-in unfairness here, since Ms. Khan gets her legal tab picked up by the taxpayer, whereas the employer is on the hook for all legal expenses. That along with the fact that the tribunal is set up to favour the complainant means that "justice" is rarely served by this process. What is served is a state-imposed fake niceness--and who the heck wants that?
A Toronto woman who was repeatedly called "Paki" and other racial slurs at work has been awarded $25,000 by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.As for Ms. Khan, she sounds like she's quite fragile--and was well before the racial slurs. Maybe she ought to think about working in, say, a flower shop instead of for a rough-and-tumble trucking company.
The ruling, handed out earlier this month, orders Cheryl Khan's former employer, Lynn Tompkins, the owner of Lynx Trucking Transportation in northwest Toronto, to pay the fine, in addition to $6,500 in lost wages. He has also been ordered to create an anti-harassment policy at his company and attend sensitivity training.
"It was horrible," 36-year-old Ms. Khan said yesterday. "I knew that if I stood back and let this gentleman walk all over me and not do anything about it, it makes it seem like it's OK."
During the proceedings, Mr. Tompkins denied the allegations, admitting he was a difficult employer because he yelled at his workers, but said he never used any racial epithets.
He also countered Ms. Khan, a trucking dispatcher, was fired because she used Facebook at work and was occasionally late for her shifts. He brought in several current employees to testify on his behalf. Mr. Tompkins did not return any phone calls yesterday.
In his written decision, tribunal adjucator Eric Whist ruled in Ms. Khan's favour, saying she was forced to be in a "poisoned work environment" and endure "overt racial abuse on a repeated basis."
Ms. Khan said she still deals with a number of "emotional struggles" and found it difficult at first to trust her new employer.
"This is something that will stay with me forever" Ms. Khan said.
Update: Josephine observes:
There have always been people here from different countries. The difference is that, when people called them names, they learned to cope and get on with life. If their boss was a racist jerk, they found another job.
Oh, and white people get called names and are picked on at school and work, too, but we can't sue people for gobs of money: we still have to suck it up and learn valuable life lessons from our victimization.
Thanks for the link, Scaramouche!
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