Tribunal to hear human rights complaint against Celgar
By Kyra Hoggan
The BC Human Rights Tribunal has decided it will hear a complaint against Castlegar’s Zellstoff Celgar which alleges discrimination against women in non-union, supervisory positions.
Former Celgar human resources manager Adrienne McKellar alleges in the complaint that women are passed over for promotions and paid less than their male counterparts, and says she was fired in retaliation for bringing the matter to the attention of senior management. Mercer applied to have the complaint dismissed, and to have the complainants provide legal costs to Celgar management Doug Cargill and Kevin Anderson, both of which applications were denied in the Jan. 20 tribunal decision.
In summarizing the situation for the purposes of responding to the application, the tribunal described the situation as follows: “Adrienne McKellar on her own behalf and on behalf of all female employees and former employees of Zellstoff Celgar Limited (“Celgar”) who are (or were) excluded from a Collective Agreement and who act (or acted) in a supervisory or managerial capacity (the “Complainant”) filed a representative complaint alleging Celgar, Mercer International Inc. (“Mercer”), Doug Cargill and Kevin Anderson (the “Respondents”) discriminated against them in their employment on the basis of sex by paying them less than males doing similar or the same work, depriving them of the same promotional opportunities as their male colleagues with the same or less experience, depriving of them of the same training opportunities as their male colleagues doing similar or the same work, and depriving them of the appropriate titles for the work they performed, pursuant to ss. 12 and 13 of the BC Human Rights Code, “ the decision read. “In addition, Ms. McKellar alleges that the Respondents retaliated against her for expressing concerns respecting the alleged discrimination in the workplace by terminating her employment.”
Also named in the complaint are three other women with allegations of discrimination: Susan Meredith, Christine Galer and Diane Perehudoff.
To read the decision in its entirety, which lays out the fundamentals of the complaint in question, visit http://www.bchrt.gov.bc.ca/decisions/2015/pdf/jan/15_McKellar_obo_others_v_Celgar_and_another_2015_BCHRT_15.pdf
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