Welcome to Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! This week, lawyer Kyla Lee discusses mistrials and judicial bias.
Acumen Law Corporation lawyer Kyla Lee gives her take on a made-in-Canada court case each week and discusses why these cases should have been heard by Canada’s highest court: the Supreme Court of Canada.
Brian Suen had a job at an environmental company in Burnaby, BC. He was a new parent when the company suddenly lost an employee and they asked him to take over that position. As a result of his new parenting responsibilities, Mr. Suen turned down the opportunity at the employer.
The employer gave him an opportunity to reconsider and threatened that if he didn’t reconsider the position he would be terminated from the employment. Unfortunately, Mr. Suen didn’t reconsider and his employment was terminated.
The case went to the Supreme Court of Canada on the question of whether or not this constitutes discrimination in employment on the basis of family status.
The SCC refused the opportunity to hear this case which leaves a very frustrating question: Can employers just unilaterally decide to change the terms of a person’s contract of employment to prevent them from engaging in their family activities?
Watch the video for more.
