$175K settlement comes 9 years after woman filed sexism complaint against Winnipeg manufacturer

After nine years of waiting for a decision in a human rights complaint, a Winnipeg woman has been offered $175,000 in compensation, minus some deductions, by her former employer after she complained about a sexist atmosphere in the workplace.

The complaint was filed by Gwen Jaques against her former employer, Price Industries, a large multinational manufacturing company based in Winnipeg.

Jaques filed a complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission in 2015 after she was dismissed in June that year from her sales job at the company, which makes products such as air purification equipment. 

The complaint alleges that in violation of the Manitoba Human Rights Code, Jaques was discriminated against on the basis of her sex and her age at the time (53), and that she was subjected to harassment. 

The company denies the allegations.

Her dismissal was “devastating,” Jaques told CBC News.

“I lost my way to earn an income and to work.” 

After a hearing in April 2024, a decision by a human rights commission adjudicator said that as part of a settlement, Price Industries “has apologized for not thoroughly recognizing and addressing the sexist atmosphere in the workplace and not remediating the effects it had on female employees.”

The human rights commission had done its own investigation into the complaint, and its 2019 report found that on a balance of probabilities, Jaques “was subject to harassment based on sex,” and that Price Industries “did not take reasonable steps to terminate the harassment.”

The investigation report concluded the company “systematically discriminates against female employees,” but said it “did not discriminate against the complainant on the basis of age.”

However, the July 11 decision notes that Price Industries and the human rights commission both take the position that the investigation report is “based on unsworn, unproven evidence and should not be considered.”

‘No choice but to accept’

The purpose of the April hearing was not to hear evidence or call witnesses, but rather only to have the adjudicator determine whether the settlement offer was reasonable.

Based on the company’s settlement offer, the adjudicator ordered Price Industries to pay Jaques $150,000 (minus statutory deductions such as income tax, CPP and employment insurance) as compensation for financial loss, along with $25,000 in general damages for injury to her dignity.

WATCH | Dismissal was ‘devastating,’ says woman who alleged discrimination:

The human rights commission adjudicator, Gary Sarcida, concluded in his decision that the company’s settlement offer was “reasonable.”

In an email to CBC News, Price Industries vice-president for human resources Jodi Tomczak said the company “den[ies] the allegations made by the complainant and made a reasonable offer simply to conclude the matter.”

The decision gives Jaques 30 days to accept the settlement offer to resolve the case. 

“I have no choice but to accept it, because if I don’t accept it, I walk away with absolutely nothing,” said Jaques. “There is no recourse at this point.”

Dismissal ‘a humiliating experience’

Jaques worked for Price Industries from 2007 until she was dismissed in 2015, and maintains she had done nothing wrong. 

The day she was let go, “security was waiting for me at my desk, watched as I packed up my desk and escorted me out.”

She said she didn’t realize until she got her record of employment that “it was not a restructuring, it was a dismissal.”

“It was a humiliating experience,” said Jaques. “And then after that, I couldn’t get a job, no matter how often I applied.”

The adjudicator’s decision says since then, Price Industries has taken remedial steps, including employee training on respect in the workplace and training for leaders on inclusion, as well as requiring employees to acknowledge a violence and harassment policy.

The company has also committed to compliance with Manitoba’s Human Rights Code through measures such as sending resumés to managers with all identifiers removed, the decision says.

Price Industries will also require all employees to go through unconscious bias training, it says, and will have a “reasonable number” of human resources and management personnel attend human rights training offered by the commission.

9-year wait ‘way too long’

Jaques said she’s thankful to the people who came forward during a long and difficult complaint process.

“They put their own jobs on the line for doing that. And I’m very grateful for them,” she said. “I’m grateful for the support that my family has given me.”

She also praised the investigator for spending “a lot of time and effort” during a thorough investigation.

But the process should not have taken so long, she said.

“Nine years is way too long for anybody to have to go through this,” said Jaques.

“I think they [the human rights commission] retraumatized me. It’s very traumatizing to go through this constantly.”

In response, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission said it acknowledges “current wait times to be assigned to an investigator are too long.”

“We recognize that these wait times have an impact on the people involved in the complaint process and affect public trust in the human rights system,” Karen Sharma, the commission’s executive director, said in an email to CBC News.

Jaques’s complaint was filed in 2015, but an investigator was not assigned to the case until August 2017. 

“The investigation was complex, as it involved a significant number of witness interviews,” Sharma said.

The investigation was finished in early 2019, she said, after which there were mediation discussions between the parties with the commission that did not resolve the case.

There were also other preliminary issues that were referred to adjudication in 2021, with a decision in 2023 that ultimately led to the April 2024 hearing.

Sharma said the current average wait time for a complaint to be assigned to an investigator is 18 months.

As of this month, 361 files are awaiting early assessment or investigation — down from 614 files at the beginning of April 2022.

“We are committed to improving client service and removing any unnecessary delay in the human rights complaint system,” Sharma said. “We have developed a strategy to eliminate investigation wait times by the end of 2025.”