Theft By Tribunal

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has awarded an Enderby woman more than $12,000 after deciding she was discriminated against by a new employer based on her physical disability. The story behind this award is almost laughable. Read on…

Carolyn Hurn injured her back in a car accident in 1989 and hadn’t worked until securing employment with Salmon Arm’s Healthquest Natural Health and Medical Supplies. She lasted a total of three shifts after complaining she had to alternate between sitting and standing. Fair enough but her employers, Hank and Margilla Berkenpas, hired her to do a job and she was obviously unable to do it and shouldn’t have applied for the position in the first place. Mr. and Mrs. Berkenpas terminated her employment after the third shift but Ms. Hurn decided a terrible wrong had been done and complained to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. These bleeding hearts awarded the useless twat over 12 grand because she couldn’t do the job. Who’s fault is that?

After the award was announced Hank Berkenpas said “What it came down to was, who told a better story and we lost. The whole thing is ridiculous and it still keeps me awake at night.” No doubt. These small business owners hired someone who had been out of the labour market for 20 years and were rewarded with a useless employee and a lawsuit. Sounds fair, huh? Ms. Hurn however said (via email) “It is important that employers understand people with disabilities have much to offer their communities and the business sector. I have compassion for the respondents because I don’t think they understood human rights laws or realize the impact an employer can have on a person.” What a pile of crap! This woman has been sitting on her ass for 20 years, conned a hard-working couple to employ her then took their money because she couldn’t do the work. She obviously doesn’t have much to offer he community or the business sector other than less than minimal job performance and a lawsuit.

I’m a firm believer in karma and hope that Ms. Hurn takes as good as she gives. Meanwhile the members of the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal should hang their heads in shame for this one. Do you people think the average, hard-working member of society looks on these stupid, wasteful decisions and actually agrees with you? Smarten up and do the right thing rather than rewarding lazy, greedy opportunists and penalizing business owners.

  1 Comment

  1. Hank Berkenpas   •  

    As the employer involved, the support we have rec’d has been overwhelming. One supporter even offered to open his cheque book to help out! After we declined the offer we simply coudn’t thank him enough. It appears there is no way to fight this case as a lawyer told us it would cost $20 to 30 thousand dollars. That would break our small business. We still know we did nothing wrong and that’s how we sleep at night. This whole thing was a setup from the start.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *