The verdict is out: Human rights trump hair styles.

In November, 2007, Canadian entrepreneur, Sarah Desrosiers,
faced a legal battle after denying employment to Bushra Noah for wearing her
traditional headscarf and refusing to display her hair in Desrosier’s trendy London, England salon.

Desrosier claimed that she needed her employees to show off
their hairstyles to market her hair salon. After months of debating, the
employment tribunal panel has finally ruled that Desrosiers’ actions were
“indirect discrimination” against Noah.

The panel awarded Noah £4000 (the equivalent of about $8000
Cdn) for “injury to feeling” but dismissed her claims for direct religious
discrimination. The panel further stated that Desrosiers did not provide enough
evidence to demonstrate that a stylist with covered hair would have negatively
impacted her salon.

Daniel A. Lublin is a Toronto Employment Lawyer specializing in the law of wrongful dismissal.  He can be reached at dan@toronto-employmentlawyer.com or visit www.toronto-employmentlawyer.com

On May 27, 2008 the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruled in favour of BC Ferries with respect the the firing of transsexual employee, Deborah Magnone.

Deborah, who was previously known as Marshall John Magnone, claimed her termination was the result of rumours surrounding her 1984 sex-reassignment.

The Tribunal ruled differently. They cited two September, 2004 incidents as cause for termination. One of which resulted in a vessel being steered into a "hard-landing", potentially compromising the sea-worthiness of the vessel. In it’s ruling, the Tribunal stated that Ms. Magnone had "failed to establish that her transsexualism was a factor in her termination".

At the Tribunal, the burden of proof is for the complainant to make out a "Prima Facie" case, in other words, demonstrating initial merit.  If a prima facie case is made out, the burden then shifts to the respondent to show that discrimination did not occur. 

Click here for a link to the Tribunal’s decision.

Daniel A. Lublin is a Toronto Employment Lawyer specializing in the law of wrongful dismissal.  He can be reached at dan@toronto-employmentlawyer.com or visit www.toronto-employmentlawyer.com