Manitoba human rights case rules on sexual harassment at Winnipeg garage

WINNIPEG – A Manitoba human rights adjudicator has found that a male garage worker was sexually harassed by a female supervisor.

The case centres on a Super Lube repair shop in Winnipeg, where, in 2009, supervisor Heather Kirton and a worker consumed beer and engaged in consensual sex in the workplace.

The hearing was told the supervisor also provided explicit photos of herself to the worker and tried to pursue the affair after he wanted to end it.

The adjudicator has ordered the company to pay the worker $3,500 for loss of dignity, but has offset the award by ordering the employee to pay the same amount to cover the hearing’s cost.

Adjudicator Lawrence Pinsky says the worker had at times given misleading statements and contradicted himself.

Pinsky has also ordered that the company implement a sexual harassment policy and send the offending supervisor to a seminar on the issue.