Owner accused of sexually harassing, bullying long-time friend
When Dora Cooke went to work for HTS Engineering, she was looking forward to having a certain comfort level because her boss was an old school chum. However, things didn’t quite turn out as planned — before long, Cooke was out of a job and her friend was facing complaints of sexual and psychological harassment.
Cooke, 42, joined the commercial supplier of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment in Sudbury, Ont., in January 2007 as a sales assistant. One of the two men who headed the office was Patrice Comeau, 46, a friend of Cooke’s who offered her the job.
The situation seemed to start well and when Cooke finished her three-month probationary period, Comeau and his partner took her out to lunch to celebrate. They also invited her to come along on a company trip to the Bahamas as a reward for meeting financial goals, though she didn’t go.
However, the situation started going sour in May 2007. Cooke had trouble learning HTS-developed software that did most of the administrative work electronically, with all information relating to the company’s jobs stored and updated on a computer. She preferred keeping paper records of the jobs in binders.
Comeau told Cooke she should use the computer but Cooke felt he was unfairly criticizing her. The discussion escalated into an argument that led to Cooke running to the bathroom in tears.
In July, Comeau had problems with the way Cooke prepared documents for job bids. Again, Cooke didn’t take the criticism well and felt she was being picked on. Another argument ensued that resulted in Cooke crying.
In October, Comeau told Cooke she hadn’t been photocopying properly and explained how to do it correctly. It led to another argument, Cooke became upset and left the documents with Comeau to copy.
On Nov. 7, Cooke claimed she arrived at the office and both Comeau and his partner began criticizing her about a mistake she had made. The two men claimed they told her she would need to improve, but Cooke said she didn’t think she was the right person for the job and didn’t return to work after lunch. Her father called the office to say she would be taking sick leave.
HTS began looking for a temporary replacement. But Cooke brought a doctor’s note the following week that said she would be off work until Dec. 3. She also complained she had suffered mental, verbal and sexual abuse from Comeau and filed a suit for constructive dismissal resulting from sexual and psychological harassment.
Cooke claimed Comeau frequently engaged in sexual banter and bullied her. The arguments were part of an atmosphere of psychological harassment in which he insulted her and her boyfriend, she said. She only engaged in the banter because she felt intimidated.
But Comeau said she willingly participated in the banter, often started it and never said it made her uncomfortable. Comeau admitted he got angry sometimes but said whenever he raised performance issues with Cooke, she didn’t take it well and over-reacted.
If the sexual harassment and bullying were ongoing throughout her time at HTS, as Cooke claimed, it would have impacted her mental health for some time, said the court. However, her doctor made no reference to work-related stress until Nov. 7, after nine months at HTS.
The court also saw an email Cooke sent to her previous employer in September 2007 that said she was happy at HTS. Cooke had also tried to set up Comeau with her best friend.
It was “likely” the sexual banter took place but Cooke was a willing participant and it did not constitute sexual harassment, found the court. However, Cooke was the victim of psychological harassment as she may have been intimidated.
Cooke told her doctor in November Comeau had become verbally abusive. This behaviour led to constructive dismissal, found the court.
“Although Mr. Comeau may well have raised legitimate performance issues with Ms. Cooke, the degeneration of those discussions into shouting matches in which he was an active participant was unwarranted. His other outbursts of anger in the office, albeit directed at customers, suppliers or a shelf of books, would reasonably have contributed to the intimidation of Ms. Cooke,” said the court.
Cooke was constructively dismissed from HTS due to bullying and psychological harassment, found the court. HTS was ordered to pay her two months’ salary, bonus and benefits, minus what she earned in a new job during the notice period. The court also awarded Cooke $3,500 for mental distress, bringing the total award to $13,381.
For more information see:
•Cooke v. HTS Engineering Ltd., 2009 CarswellOnt 8326 (Ont. S.C.J.).
Jeffrey R. Smith is the editor of Canadian Employment Law Today, a sister publication to Canadian HR Reporter that looks at workplace law from a business perspective. For more information, visit employmentlawtoday.com.
