Board Decision in Pizza Delight Case

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION--Board Decision in Pizza Delight Case

• ---------------------------------------------------------------A board of inquiry has ruled in favor of a New Minas pizza restaurant in a discrimination case that centred on a complaint filed by a former waitress.

Julie Coleman complained under the Human Rights Act that Manto Holdings Ltd. (Pizza Delight) discriminated against her after an injury to her leg left her with a physical disability. She alleged she lost her job as a waitress at the Pizza Delight owned by Manto Holdings because of her disability.

In the ruling, board chair Susan Ashley noted that neither side disputed that Ms. Coleman suffered from pain at her workplace and that some duties aggravated her injury. Ms. Ashley also said that Barrie Salter, owner of the restaurant, knew Ms. Coleman was injured in 1994 but didn't realize she had a physical disability until she went on sick leave in 1995. On this note, Ms. Ashley said there was not enough evidence to prove that Mr. Salter knew Ms. Coleman had a medical problem that needed to be accommodated in the workplace.

Ms. Coleman was injured in June 1994. Even though she was in pain, she said she took no time off until July 1995 when a doctor told her she had to leave work indefinitely because of the injury.

When Ms. Coleman called her employers to say she wanted to go back to work in the fall of 1995, she said her employers didn't want her to work with an injury and laid her off. Mr. Salter said that when Ms. Coleman called, there were no openings at the restaurant. Ms. Coleman said she believed she was being fired, so she returned her uniforms and other items to Pizza Delight, picked up her record of employment and left.

The inquiry was held March 8-10, 1999, in Greenwich. Boards of inquiry are the final stage in the human rights complaint process.

NOTE: The following information is intended for broadcast media.

A human rights board of inquiry has ruled in favor of

a New Minas pizza restaurant.

The inquiry was held into a complaint by waitress Julie

Coleman.

She alleged she was fired from her job at the Pizza

Delight in New Minas because a leg injury left her with a

physical disability.

Board chairman Susan Ashley found that the evidence

did not support the allegation of discrimination.

Boards of inquiry are the final stage in the human

rights complaint process.