Vancouver woman fired after pregnancy wins small human rights settlement

A Vancouver woman has won an $11,000 settlement from the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after being fired the day after she told her boss she was pregnant.

The award is far less than the almost $50,000 Pauline Prabhjot Kooner-Rilcof was asking for from her employer, BNA Smart Payment Systems Ltd., the Vancouver Sun reported.

Kooner-Rilof alleged the Ontario-based company, which provides debit- and credit-card payment-processing services, discriminated against her by dismissing her in 2010 despite previously acknowledging her solid job performance as vice-president of sales in Western Canada.

BNA president Matthew Moore told the tribunal that even before she told him she was pregnant, he'd decided to let her go because of declining business in the West.

Though laws vary from province to province, in general women can't be dismissed for being pregnant, according to the Baby Center web site.

As women became more significant in the work force, most companies have tried to accommodate them.

The new chief executive of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer, was named to the job despite being six months pregnant, igniting a fresh debate over whether women can "have it all," the Huffington Post noted.

[Related: Four leadership lessions from Marissa Mayer's rise]

It appears the tribunal didn't think Kooner-Rilcof's pregnancy was the only factor in her firing.

She joined BNA in 2009 and within a year was promoted to western vice-president, the Sun reported.

Kooner-Rilcof telephoned Moore on Sept. 15 to inform him she was pregnant and would start her maternity leave in December or January. The following day, after consulting the company's lawyer, Moore called her back to say she was being fired and BNA was closing its B.C. operations.

Moore said he had invested more than $200,000 in the western expansion but business was shrinking, which he said was the main reason Kooner-Rilcof was let go. However, the tribunal ruling noted the company still has clients in Vancouver and is looking for new sales representatives in the city.

Moore testified he'd decided to fire Kooner-Rilcof two weeks before she announced her pregnancy but had planned to do it in person. He then planned to send another executive to deliver the news, however he couldn't provide evidence to back this account.

He said he chose not to fire her the day of her call because the timing wasn't right given her joy over the pregnancy.

Kooner-Rilcof's family doctor stated the emotional impact of the dismissal during her pregnancy sent her into a disabling depression. She claims she continues to suffer depression from the firing.

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In the ruling, tribunal member Robert Blasina wrote that Kooner-Rilcof's pregnancy was a factor in her adverse treatment but also that BNA was looking to cut costs given poor revenues generated by the B.C. operation.

Moore and the company did not provide enough evidence to explain why Kooner-Rilcof, someone "key to BNA's success," was fired so soon after her pregnancy announcement, Blasina wrote.

Kooner-Rilcof had been paid two weeks salary in lieu of notice. Moore and his company was ordered to pay Kooner-Rilcof another two weeks of salary and commissions totalling $3,125, in addition to $8,000 for "injury to dignity, feelings and self respect," the Sun reported.

She had wanted four months gross salary of $21,600; four months commission of $3,400; $2,160 for medical/dental; $20,000 in general damages for injury to dignity and mental distress and $2,250 in legal fees.