Pantsing victim awarded $5K in human rights case

A human rights tribunal in Yukon has ruled that a former motel worker in Destruction Bay, whose pants were repeatedly pulled down by his employer, was a victim of sexual harassment.

The Yukon Human Rights Board of Adjudication has ordered the owners of the Talbot Arm Motel to pay Peter Budge $5,000 in damages.

"The Board finds that the act of pulling down an employee's pants is a sexually-oriented practice which negatively impacts the work environment," reads the board's written decision, issued on Wednesday.

"It therefore comes within the meaning of the [Human Rights] Act as being conduct that treats the Complainant unfavourably on the prohibited ground of sex."

Budge, 54, filed a workplace sexual harassment complaint in 2015, detailing how his employer — Talbot Arm co-owner Charles Eikland — pulled down Budge's pants, on the job, nearly every day over several months in 2014.

A hearing before the board of adjudicators — an independent tribunal — was held last month in Whitehorse. 

At the hearing, Eikland and Talbot Arm co-owner Suzanne Tremblay denied Budge's allegations and called into question his credibility.

The board of adjudicators, however, found that "much, but not all" of Budge's testimony was credible.

"The Board does accept that there were multiple (at least four of five) pants-pulling incidents commencing in May of 2014, despite the denial of Eikland that there was ever more than one," the decision reads.

But the board did not believe Budge's claim that the pantsing happened almost daily over several months.

"The number and frequency of pants-pulling incidents testified to by the Complainant strains credibility ... This allegation is not consistent with the evidence of other witnesses and is also inconsistent with his original complaint to the Commission," the board's decision reads.

Employer known for 'joking around'

The board also concluded, based on evidence at the hearing, that the Talbot Arm Motel is "generally a good and respectful place to work," and that Eikland was known for "joking around" with staff.

Still, the board decided that Eikland clearly crossed a line.

"Eikland certainly ought to have known that his pulling down or attempting to pull down an employee's pants was unwelcome ... a reasonable person in Eikland's place would know that his conduct in this regard was unwelcome," states the decision.

Budge was seeking punitive damages of $50,000, plus a written apology. The board decided that $5,000 was a reasonable award, considering "the nature of the harassment and its subjective impact."

The board said it did not have the power to order a written apology.