A Canadian resort owner was ordered to pay a group of ex-employees who got discriminated against for being white, according to reports.
The Human Rights Tribunal of British Columbia awarded over $173,000 to the former workers after discovering that they were all fired or forced to leave on account of their skin color.
Kin Wa Chan, of the Spruce Hill Resort and Spa in British Columbia, didn’t want them to work there because they were not Chinese, the tribunal said.
“Over a period of months, Mr. Chan repeatedly said that he wanted to replace Caucasian employees with ethnically Chinese employees to reduce labor costs,” wrote tribunal chair Diana Juricevic in a 73-page decision.
“Mr. Chan said words to the effect: ‘Chinese workers are better and cheaper than white workers’ and ‘Chinese workers do not have to be paid holiday pay or overtime.’”
At least seven employees were fired or forced to quit in the summer of 2016, according to the tribunal.
“Mr. Chan denied that he made such statements. However, his story does not harmonize with what he actually did, what credible witnesses heard him say, and with the preponderance of the probabilities which a practical and informed person would readily recognize as reasonable in that place and in those conditions,” explained Juricevic.
She noted how Chan was also interested in employing Chinese people because, according to one of the workers, “they don’t ask for overtime they work on salary and work many, many hours no overtime.”
In addition to being racially discriminated against, at least one of the employees claimed she was sexually harassed by Chan during a business trip to China in April 2016. The tribunal awarded her for this allegation, as well.
According to its website, the Sprice Hill Resort and Spa includes a hotel, ballroom, bar, indoor pool, restaurants, saunas, fitness facilities and “unlimited self guided hiking and biking over our 100 km [62 mile] trail system.” Chan reportedly purchased it in 2015.
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