Young Expectant Mother Victim of Workplace Discrimination in Toronto

Toronto, ONIt's not often in this age of racial discrimination, age discrimination, gender discrimination and other forms of workplace discrimination, that you hear about new mothers given the boot for simply being pregnant. But that's what happened to a young, expectant mother in the metropolitan Toronto suburb of Mississauga.

Wednesday the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario awarded Jessica Maciel $35,000 in damages and lost wages after she was abruptly fired from her job as receptionist for a hair salon.

A Case of Workplace Gender Discrimination

It was in August of last year that Maciel applied for a job at Nino D'Arena hair salon. Maciel was four months pregnant at the time, but decided not to mention her condition during the job interview fearing that divulging her pregnancy would scuttle her chances at landing the job. Her fears would soon be confirmed.

On her first day on the job, Maciel decided it would be best to get everything out in the open and confessed her pregnancy to her superior, Cinzia Conforti. According to an account published this morning in the Toronto Star, Maciel was asked to leave the salon fifteen minutes later.

The next day, Conforti contacted Maciel by telephone to say that she was fired, allegedly because she had wanted just part-time hours, rather than full-time work—an allegation Maciel disputes given that as an unwed single mother-in-the-making, she needed and wanted full-time hours.

Firing an Affront to Discrimination Law

It should be noted that nowhere in the Ontario Human Rights Code does it require a prospective employee to advise or divulge a pregnancy to a prospective employer. While some might feel that Maciel erred morally by hiding her pregnancy from her prospective employer until after she was hired, there was no legal requirement for her to apprise the salon of her condition during the job interview.

Thus, the Ontario Human Rights Legal Support Center (HRLSC) had the legal grounds to pursue a case on behalf of Maciel and she won. The salon was also ordered to implement policy that would serve to protect women under its employ, in future.

Maciel has had her baby and now works as an events co-coordinator at a banquet hall. She claimed the victory in the name of all other women who are met with similar circumstances of gender discrimination and other forms of workplace discrimination.

According to the lawyer who handled Maciel's case. The HRLSC receives upwards of 40 queries a week from women who have faced similar discrimination.