STELLARTON – A Pictou County woman’s human rights case against the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation is underway this week as a board of inquiry investigates her complaints.
Pearl Kelly filed a complaint with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission that she was discriminated against by her employer, the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, on the basis of gender and disability.
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission board of inquiry began in the Museum of Industry Tuesday morning and will continue throughout the week.
Kelly’s lawyer, Barry Mason, said in his opening statement that Kelly heard sexist comments regarding her being pregnant and going on maternity leave during her time with the NSLC from co-workers and a supervisor. He said she was treated unfairly as a female manager within the corporation compared to male managers at other stores, including the fact that she only had an assistant manager for 26 weeks out of the 250 weeks that she worked as a manager in the class four category, the category for the largest stores within the liquor corporation, while male managers of equal status received “better treatment.”
“She was referred to, because she has three children, and was on maternity leave for a period while at the NSLC, as ‘Pregnant Pearl’ in Pictou, those comments were made with derision and were truly belittling and upsetting to Mrs. Kelly,” Mason said.
Mason also said Kelly was discriminated against on the basis of gender because she was not offered an interview for the regional manager position, which a man received. “Differential treatment because she is a woman. Sexist comments because she is a woman. She was belittled and when she raised these issues, they were not addressed,” Mason said.
Mason said the NSLC also discriminated against Kelly on the basis of disability. In 2008, Kelly was diagnosed with situation anxiety disorder and had to go on sick leave from her management job at NSLC as a result.
Mason said in an interview following Tuesday’s proceedings “the argument that she’s been discriminated against based on disability is that the employer failed to accommodate her disability and failed to take steps to assist her getting back to work.”
Kelly stated in her testimony Tuesday that while off work because of her anxiety, she received several registered letters from the NSLC that triggered stress and worsened her condition. Mason said these letters are evidence the NSLC did not accommodate its employee’s disability.
“You would expect them to reach out to their employee to see what steps they could take to help them get back to work. What we see in this case is the complete opposite of that,” he said in an interview. “We’ve seen steps that inflamed her disability rather than assisting her, so that really is the argument that there has been discrimination based on disability.”
Bradley Proctor, lawyer representing the NSLC, said in his opening statement that Kelly’s complaints against the liquor corporation should be dismissed.
“The NSLC’s position is that we did not either in whole or in part discriminate against Mrs. Kelly on the basis of her gender or disability. Our evidence and witnesses will support that position,” he said.
“Mrs. Kelly is of course saying that she was treated differently than male managers at NSLC and we deny that and our evidence will show that she was not treated differently than male managers at NSLC, she was treated based on her individual circumstances and performances.”
Proctor said that the NSLC has accommodated Kelly’s disability because since 2008 when she went on sick leave, the NSLC has held her position and she remains an employee of the corporation.
Mason said in an interview that his client would like to see two things happen as a result of this inquiry.
“Number one, what she would like to see happen is that other employees at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation don’t have to go through what she went through and number two is she has obviously suffered significant losses as a result of the treatment she received from NSLC, so she wants to make sure there’s protections put in place for herself and that she’s appropriately compensated for the losses that she has suffered.”
The inquiry will continue this morning at the Museum of Industry.
