‘Racist, sexist and Islamophobic’: BC woman awarded $30K after years in ‘poisoned’ office environment

A BC woman who tolerated working in an office “poisoned” by racist, sexist and Islamophobic discrimination has been awarded $30,000 after being fired.

According to a recently published Oct. 30 BC Human Rights Tribunal decision, management at Gandy Installations made frequent jokes about Maryam Ens sex life, along with saying that Muslims celebrated the 9/11 attacks, and then said she was “emotional” when she complained.

“Her experience at Gandy was characterised by long-standing patterns of sexist jokes and comments directed at her, regular questions about her religious and cultural backgrounds to which her co-workers were not subjected, and occasional Islamophobic jokes, suggesting she was sympathetic to terrorism,” the Tribunal ruled. “The person most responsible for these problems — Mr. Guild — was her direct supervisor, for most of her time at Gandy. Mr. Guild’s supervisor — Taylor Gandy — participated in the Islamophobic jokes.”

The decision said Ens, whose parents emigrated to Canada from Iran, started working at Gandy Installations in 2016 and was promoted to call centre manager shortly before she was fired in 2020.

After losing her job, she took the company to the BC Human Rights Tribunal, arguing that her termination was discriminatory.

The company argued that she participated in and thereby condoned the workplace culture that she now says was poisoned by discrimination.

The Langley-based HVAC firm pointed to messages between Ens and other staff, where she made “crude and unprofessional comments” about her boss David Guild.

The lengthy 73-page decision goes into detail about how Ens started at the firm when she was 22 years old, and her performance was initially praised by Guild, who told the company’s then general manager, Taylor Gandy, that she should be promoted.

“However, there was evidence of tension in their relationship,” the Tribunal said. 

Guild’s questions about Islam and women made her uncomfortable, and she also testified that he would treat her unprofessionally and belittle her. He regularly asked her about her religious or cultural background and didn’t ask these questions to other staff.

The Tribunal ruled that the conversations about her cultural background weren’t discriminatory, but were relevant to the poisoned workplace.

“They served as a regular reminder to Ms. Ens that her boss was preoccupied with her racial and religious characteristics,” the Tribunal said.

Ens testified that some of the Guild’s comments were offensive, but she generally tolerated them.

However, the Tribunal found that some of his comments crossed the line.

For multiple years, on September 11, Guild and Taylor Gandy would wish her a “happy holidays” as a joke about Muslims being responsible for or celebrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Taylor Gandy denied it, but the Tribunal ruled otherwise.

On another occasion, Guild got into an argument with a courier and called him a “terrorist.”

The Tribunal also ruled that Taylor Gandy had made inappropriate comments about her sex life.

On one occasion, when Ens was dating a colleague and the colleague called in sick, Taylor Gandy told the office the sick employee, “had too much Maryam this weekend.”

After Ens had gotten lip fillers, Guild and others joked she now had “dick-sucking lips.”

The hearing took place over five days and the decision went into lengthy details about what was said.

The Tribunal said that while there was no doubt the comments about 9/11 were meant as a joke, but a joke about a person’s religious or cultural background can be discriminatory.

Likewise, the Tribunal said much the same about jokes about Ens sex life.

“A reasonable person would understand that the sexualised reference to Ms. Ens’s lips, or jokes about her being promiscuous, or suggestions that she had sex with her friends, are offensive and inappropriate in the workplace,” the Tribunal ruled. “This type of joke can poison a workplace by making employees uncomfortable and suggesting they are judged in terms of their sexuality rather than by their value and performance as employees.”

Ens also said the company failed to act after she was sexually assaulted by a colleague and after telling Guild he failed to report it to senior management and did nothing.

The employee was eventually fired after senior management was told years later and immediately began an investigation.

However, the Tribunal said there were still some “missteps” and that its response didn’t reflect the seriousness of the allegation.

The multitude of issues came to a head in April 2020, when Ens and Guild got into a work-related dispute and she left the office. She later emailed apologizing for her “blow up.”

She was fired a few days later.

While Gandy Installations argued the termination was based on work performance, the Tribunal didn’t buy it.

Ultimately, the Tribunal ruled that Grandy failed to provide a discrimination-free workplace and tolerated racist, sexist and Islamophobic discrimination.

The Tribunal ordered Grandy to pay Ens $30,000.