Worksites don't always respect the neat boundaries of an organizational chart. An engineer may work daily alongside a contractor's employees, supervisors and subcontractors without sharing an employer. When harassment occurs, a human rights complaint can raise an immediate question: does the person responsible have to be the complainant's own employer or supervisor?
That was the issue in British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal v. Schrenk, 2017 SCC 62. A civil engineer working on a road project alleged that a site foreman employed by the construction contractor repeatedly made discriminatory comments concerning his religion, origin and sexual orientation. The engineer worked for a separate engineering firm. The foreman argued that the employment discrimination provisions of British Columbia's Human Rights Code couldn't reach him because there was no direct employment relationship between them.
The Human Rights Tribunal concluded that it had jurisdiction. The British Columbia Court of Appeal disagreed, but the Supreme Court restored the tribunal's decision by majority. The Court examined the words prohibiting discrimination regarding employment and concluded that they weren't confined to an employee's own employer or direct superior. Where a person is an integral part of the workplace, that person's conduct may fall within the statutory prohibition if it affects the complainant's employment.
The judgment was about jurisdiction. It didn't finally determine the truth of every allegation or the merits of the harassment complaint. That distinction matters because recognizing a route to have allegations heard isn't the same as deciding liability or remedy.
The case is particularly useful to contractors and organizations that share worksites. A worker's daily environment may be shaped by foremen or colleagues who report to another company. Responding effectively to allegations requires attention to who controls that environment and what steps each organization can take. The absence of a shared payroll doesn't necessarily end the human rights analysis.
Source: Supreme Court of Canada, British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal v. Schrenk, 2017 SCC 62, https://decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/16919/index.do