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(Hypothetical) Say I had a boss who was crazy enough to make a statement like, “All men get a raise, and all women get a paycut.”

The hypothetical women in the hypothetical office are refusing to take action (maybe they feel intimidated or just don’t trust the legal system).

As a man, I would get more money out of this, but as a human being, I find it unconscionable, and I also don’t want to have any part in something that is obviously illegal.

Would I have standing to file a discrimination complaint if the discrimination was to my advantage?

SegNerd
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3 Answers3

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You can't sue someone for what they have done to someone else.

The Citizens Advice Bureau states

If you make a discrimination claim, you need to show the court that you’ve been unlawfully discriminated against.

What you can do is

  • refuse the pay rise

  • look for work with a more fair-minded employer

  • ask the trade union to take action

  • report a breach of the Equality Act to the police.

Weather Vane
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21

You wouldn't have standing to bring a lawsuit, since you suffered no actual injury. A law review article from 1990 discusses the question of standing to sue in discrimination cases (which is almost entirely a matter of case law), but focuses, like the cases in this area, mostly on the issue of employees v. agents v. independent contractors, rather than on the more fundamental actual injury issue presented by this question.

You could call the incident to the attention of government regulators to investigate on behalf of the government, rather than on your behalf.

ohwilleke
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14

The B.C. Human Rights Code allows a complaint to be filed on behalf of another. See s. 21:

a complaint under subsection (1) may be filed on behalf of (a) another person, or (b) a group or class of persons whether or not the person filing the complaint is a member of that group or class.

The Tribunal may order the contravening party to:

  • stop the discriminatory practice,
  • take steps to ameliorate the effects of the discriminatory practice,
  • make available to the person discriminated against the opportunity that was denied,
  • compensate the person discriminated against.

Ontario has a similar provision. See s. 34(5). It empowers a third party to seek an order directing compensation or restitution to the party whose rights were infringed or an order directing the infringer to do anything that would promote compliance with the act.

Ontario also has a Human Rights Commission with the power to independently bring a matter to the Human Rights Tribunal.

The above probably cannot be used to bring a claim on behalf of a deceased person. See HMTQ v. Gregoire, 2005 BCSC 154, at para 32:

human rights established by the Code are “personal” and abate on the death of the person whose human rights have been breached.

However, that limitation would not prevent the Ontario Human Rights Commission for bringing a systemic issue to the Tribunal, seeking one of the non-compensatory remedies.

Jen
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