September 26, 2002 - Spouse's Status

Human Rights a Day

Can’t fire an employee based on spouse’s status, Saskatchewan’s top court rules. Heather Ennis was hired to manage the Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Elks Club – then she was fired two weeks later when her employer learned her husband was a convicted murderer serving time in the Saskatchewan Penitentiary. Was that discrimination? Two courts said no, because although Saskatchewan’s human rights code outlawed discrimination based on marital status, the code stated that “discrimination on the basis of a relationship with a particular person is not discrimination on the basis of marital status.” But on September 26, 2002, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned the two lower decisions. Ennis’s rights were clearly violated due to marital status, the court declared, and to rule otherwise would allow any employer near Prince Albert’s federal penitentiary to fire employees with spouses there. Ennis was awarded $6,818.