The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal last month dismissed a complaint of discrimination against a Ladner seafood processing plant. Victor Tam filed the complaint after he was fired from his position at Delta Pacific Seafoods, where he has worked for six months as a night shift forklift operator.
In his complaint, Tam alleged that a supervisor made ongoing racial slurs against Chinese and Asian people. He said that he complained about and was fired in January 2012.
Tam alleged that the supervisor made disparaging remarks about the Chinese employees at the plant, yelling at them to move faster and threatening to fire them if they didn't.
He said on one occasion, the supervisor yelled so loudly that a temporary worker was reduced to tears. Tam also alleged that the general manager screamed racial slurs at him and threatened to fire him.
Delta Pacific Seafoods has about 98 full-time employees, but during peak seasons the company hires about 150 temporary workers. About 31 of the full-time employees work on night shift. Almost 90 per cent of the night shift workers at the plant are visible minorities and 84 per cent are of Asian descent.
In response to the complaints, the company told the tribunal that Tam was fired due to serious behaviour issues and denied that race was a factor in his termination. According to the judgment from the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, Tam received a formal warning about his behaviour before he was fired.
"I have considered the contemporaneous documentary evidence provided by the Respondents that supports their version of why Mr. Tam was terminated," tribunal member Marlene Tyshynski said in her reasons for decision. "Mr. Tam has not provided information that links his termination to racial discrimination and has not answered the material filed by the Respondents... He simply denies everything."
