A mother from Montreal is fighting back against coffee giant Tim Hortons after they allegedly refused to hire her after they found out she had children.
According to Global News, the incident happened back in August 2012 when Jennifer Byrnes applied for night shifts at a Tim Hortons in Parc Avenue, Montreal. Byrnes says that after meeting the manager and boss of the establishment, they told her she could start her first shift that night. They allegedly asked her for her social insurance number, medicare card, and a void cheque to start processing the paperwork so she could start working.
When Byrnes returned with all the documents, she says the manager then received a call from the boss. “When he got off the phone he came back to me and he said ‘Why didn’t you tell me you have kids? I can’t hire you now’,” she says. And just like that, Byrnes didn’t get the job.
Byrnes says her experience with Tim Hortons negatively impacted her job search and that it took her weeks to finally find another one.
“You’re like ‘OK, now I have to review what I’m gonna say in an interview because they can’t know I have kids, it can’t slip out in any way.’”
The mom is now fighting back taking her case to court, looking for compensation.
The case was taken to Quebec’s Human Rights Commission where Byrnes claimed she was being discriminated against based on her civil status and age. After two years, the Commission came up with a resolution that suggested Tim Hortons pay Byrnes $11,000 for moral damages and compensate for her loss in salary while she was looking for new work.
Tim Hortons however rejected the resolution, claiming Byrnes was never guaranteed the job position in the first place.
But the fight doesn’t stop there. Byrnes plans to take her case to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal in 2015.
Byrnes who is currently working in a call centre says she has no plans on giving up on this case.
“It is insulting being told you can’t get a job because you have kids,” she says.“It makes no sense. How are parents supposed to survive with their kids, if they can’t get a job because they have kids?”
Image via Global News
Leave a Reply