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Human rights tribunal rejects complaint against Surrey brewery

Tribunal dismisses former worker’s claim he was bullied because of his ethnicity
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BC Human Rights Tribunal. (The Canadian Press)

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed “in its entirety” a complaint from a former employee of Surrey’s Central City Brewers and Distillers Ltd. who claimed he was bullied on the job because of his ethnicity.

Tribunal member Grace Chen dismissed Seyed-Sepehr Seyed-Ali’s complaint that a white co-worker bullied and harassed him in the workplace based on his race, colour and ancestry. Seyed-Ali is Iranian and has lived in Canada for 16 years. Following a hearing by video conference over three and a half days, Chen concluded that the other employee’s conduct toward him “was not connected to his ethnicity.”

Seyed-Ali filed his complaint after the brewery terminated his employment before his seven month contract expired. Chen noted in her 36-page March 2 reasons for decision that Seyed-Ali claimed “that his ethnicity was connected to the bullying and harassment and his termination.”

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“The central issue is whether Mr. Seyed‐Ali’s ethnicity was connected to what happened to him at Central City,” Chen noted in her analysis. She decided Central City is not liable for any discriminatory conduct on the part of the worker “because his conduct was not racially motivated.”

Nor did she find that the brewery terminated his employment “for reasons connected to his ethnicity.”

“I find his ethnicity was not, in any way, related to how Central City dealt with his termination,” Chen decided. “I find Mr. Seyed‐Ali has not proven his termination was connected to his ethnicity.”

Central City Brewers and Distillers Ltd. is located at 11411 Bridgeview Drive.



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

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About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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