The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has agreed to hear another complaint from an African-born immigrant who said he was subjected to racist treatment from Island Health while working there, seven years after hearing a similar complaint from the same person.
Only named "Mr. Ghebremeskel" in a decision document, the man immigrated to Canada in 2010 and describes himself as being "from the Horn of Africa with dark brown skin and black hair."
Ghebremeskel trained as a care aide and worked at Island Health as a health care assistant from April 2014 to December 2019. Then, from the end of 2019 to January 2022 he worked as a scheduler in its community health and home support services.
According to the tribunal's documentation of the initial human rights case filed in 2022, Ghebremeskel alleged bullying and harassment by care aide coworkers in 2015 and 2016, while management falsely accused him of negligence. He described an incident where his new car was vandalized in the parking lot at work, which he suspected was done by a manager. He also described a conflict with a "South African-born white care aide" who assaulted him at work. He said management moved him to work on another floor after concluding he was equally responsible for the incident.
"He alleges management’s sarcastic response to his declaration that he is a man of colour, historically discriminated against and mistreated, was to tell him that all in the workplace were coloured people," noted the decision. "He alleges some of the nurses acknowledged their race-based prejudice and judgment as being attributed to their upbringings."
His complaint led to mediation with the organization which ended in an undisclosed settlement. He now calls the mediation a pre-emptive measure by Island Health and the mediator to demoralize him and prevent him from pursuing his case further. He alleges the mediator’s conduct made it difficult for him to participate and he settled to avoid the further conflict.
His new complaint arises from after he went back to work in December 2019 in a scheduling position, which was an accommodation following a vehicle accident.
While working in the scheduling position, Ghebremeskel alleges the level of training he was provided was less than that provided other employees transitioning into the role. He felt disrespected and insufficiently supported, and he believed that the lack of training occurred because of racism.
"Ghebremeskel says that several people yelled at him during his training and he had several other uncomfortable interactions with (Island Health) staff," noted an HRT document. "While working in the scheduling position, [Ghebremeskel] alleges his work was more highly scrutinized than others working in scheduling for reasons related to his race. This led to poor performance reviews and him being subject to performance management steps, all of which were related to his race."
From July 2020 to January 2021, he was off work for "reasons related to mental disabilities caused by work." While he was off, he says management spread rumours that he is a "dangerous person who often barges into workplaces." Before returning to work as a scheduler in a different health unit, he alleged being forced to sign a "behavioural contract based on an assumption that he could be violent."
When he returned to work, he says he was paired solely with male schedulers for training. He alleges some of the male schedulers refused to pair with him which he said was based on false information that he was sexually inappropriate in the workplace.
In March 2021, Ghebremeskel alleged a white male co-worker in the scheduling department bullied and harassed him about his scheduling projections skills and he said that the employee believed that he "is a misogynist or someone who exhibits sexually inappropriate behaviour around women stemming from him being a Black immigrant."
Island Health eventually performed an internal investigation into Ghebremeskel's treatment while in his scheduling role. That investigation found: race was a factor in how Ghebremeskel was perceived by others and that negatively impacted his training experience; race was a factor in other employees choosing to escalate his work errors and their increased scrutiny of his work; race was a factor in his poor work performance review; and race was a factor in him not being hired for a specific scheduling position based on "a failure to correct assumptions about his cultural background and race."
The tribunal agreed to hear Ghebremeskel's new complaint relating to racism he experienced from December 2019 to January 2022.
While agreeing, the tribunal in its decision noted Island Health's vice-president "acknowledged the investigator’s recommendations for changes within the organization, including the provision of additional training for leaders and employees in the areas of anti-Black racism and anti-racism."
A date for the hearing has yet to be scheduled.
