WestJet captain's 16-year record not enough to overcome finding of harassment
A senior WestJet captain with 16 years of spotless service was fired for sexually harassing and assaulting a flight attendant during an off-duty resort layover.
That termination was upheld in a Feb. 25, 2026 ruling, when sole arbitrator Jasbir Parmar upheld dismissed the grievance.
The most striking detail: the pilot had completed the employer's online harassment training module just two weeks before the incident.
Inappropriate touching after-hours
During a group dinner at the resort, the grievor placed his hand on the flight attendant “AB”'s thigh/knee. When AB was eating dessert, a piece of chocolate fell toward her breast but AB caught it. The grievor told her: "If it fell on your boob, I would have ate it off of it." AB told the grievor she could take care of it herself.
Later at the sports bar, he came up behind AB while she was speaking to other people, put his arms around her shoulders and his full body weight on her, squeezed her and stated, "You're so tiny and small” or "You are so small and little." He also brought her into a group hug she had not joined on her own by putting his arm around her.
On the resort tram, the grievor pulled AB closer to him by lifting and pulling her from her buttocks and said that she needed to be closer to him. He then put his arm across AB's chest and touched her right breast, which AB swatted away.
The investigator concluded the pilot’s actions constituted sexual harassment, and the union expressly accepted that the conduct constituted both sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Harassment policy clearly conveyed
The pilot told the investigator "I thought we had a friendly relationship that included close proximity, including hugs and touching, nonsexual." He testified the document provided by the employer looked like "just copy and paste of federal regulations." He also testified he had not "evolved with the times."
Parmar rejected this. The pilot had received training on harassment from the employer on three occasions, in 2015, 2017, and 2023.
The most recent training by WestJet, provided in February 2023, was an online module that required page-by-page completion. The employer's Global Violence and Harassment Prevention Policy, which the grievor acknowledged having read, made clear that the workplace includes layover hotels, that sexual harassment includes comments or actions of a sexual nature that are unsolicited or unwelcome, and that examples include physical contact such as touching and patting and sexual innuendos even when disguised by humour.
Parmar found that "if the grievor did not learn anything from the training he was provided and from reading the policy, it was because he chose to pay it no attention."
Regret about harassment not enough
The pilot testified he regretted his actions, looked for training on his own after his termination, and took an online course through a public legal education program.
He also testified that he now understands that the workplace hierarchy, which places him above the flight attendant, continued after the uniforms came off — that "it never comes off," and he would still be perceived as the captain.
Parmar acknowledged the grievor's long service and clean record, and accepted that he was unlikely to reoffend, "if for no other reason than that he fully understands the risk of professional consequences to himself."
However, the arbitrator found it concerning that the grievor still had not fully acknowledged the extent of his misconduct.
Parmar concluded: "Also, when the misconduct is as egregious as it is in this case, it simply is not sufficient to assert after the fact that ‘I now understand this is wrong.’ There is an obligation on employees to understand at the front end that certain conduct is not acceptable."
