A shopkeeper in a small B.C. group has been ordered to pay almost $99,000 to a former worker he repeatedly harassed and provided money for intercourse.
Wooyoung Joung, who additionally goes by Aiden or Kai, fired the younger girl after she rejected his $2,000 proposition after which snuck onto her property a number of instances when she filed a discrimination grievance in opposition to him, based on a latest resolution from the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
The tribunal has protected the id of the goal of his harassment, who is called Ms. Okay within the resolution.
She began working for Joung on the Deep Creek Basic Retailer in Armstrong within the spring of 2017, when she was simply 21 years outdated and he was in his mid-40s, based on the choice.
“Ms. Okay was significantly and negatively impacted when Mr. Joung made sexualized feedback to her, propositioned her for intercourse, made false allegations about her work efficiency, poisoned her office, fired her, after which trespassed at her dwelling in the course of the evening,” tribunal member Amber Prince wrote final week.
Prince discovered that Joung had discriminated in opposition to Ms. Okay on the premise of intercourse and retaliated in opposition to her for turning to the tribunal.
The expertise induced her stress and anxiousness, interfered together with her sleep and consuming, and made her really feel unsafe in her own residence, the choice says. When Joung fired Ms. Okay, “she turned unwell, to the purpose of vomiting non‐cease over a 24‐hour interval.”
Prince ordered Joung to pay Ms. Okay $53,916.72 for misplaced wages and $45,000 in damages for harm to her dignity, emotions, and self‐respect.
Joung, a South Korean nationwide, couldn’t be reached for remark, and neither he nor any consultant for the shop participated within the hearings on the tribunal.
In a response to Ms. Okay’s complaints, Joung wrote by means of clarification for his actions that he had “very restricted” communication abilities in English and is “generally confused” by Canadian tradition.
Proposition made her ‘sick to her abdomen’
Prince’s resolution lays out in painful element what she describes as “an instance of the longstanding downside of sexual harassment in Canada,” in addition to the crushing results it had on a younger girl simply beginning her profession.
The tribunal corroborated Ms. Okay’s grievance by testimony from a coworker on the retailer and her older sister, in addition to textual content messages between everybody concerned.
Proof confirmed that all through Ms. Okay’s brief stint on the retailer, Joung made sexual feedback about his younger feminine prospects and requested Ms. Okay immediately about her intercourse life.
He requested to take her out for lunch in August 2017, and although she initially stated no, Joung endured. Ms. Okay lastly gave in, and on the drive again from the restaurant, he provided her $2,000 to have intercourse with him, based on the choice.
“She described feeling shocked, insulted, disgusted and sick to her abdomen,” Prince wrote.
At first, she did not know methods to reply, however then requested him to drop it and transfer on, she informed the tribunal.
Regardless of Ms. Okay’s makes an attempt to place the incident previously, she testified that Joung repeatedly introduced it up at work within the weeks that adopted. He then started decreasing her hours and falsely accused her of stealing.
Joung fired Ms. Okay a bit greater than a month after their lunch collectively, presenting her with a termination letter that expressed displeasure together with her “insincere work behaviour.” Prince stated it was clear he made this resolution as a result of he not felt snug working with Ms. Okay.
Ms. Okay filed a human rights grievance detailing her sexual harassment a few months later.
‘Disturbing’ late evening trespassing
Some weeks after that, Ms. Okay and her sister seen indicators that somebody had been trespassing on their rural property — unfamiliar footprints within the snow, a discarded banana peel and a cup crammed with cigarette butts with a half-eaten hotdog close by.
They arrange a surveillance digital camera to catch the particular person accountable, and at 1 a.m. on March 5, 2018, the digital camera captured photos of somebody who gave the impression to be Joung, based on the choice.
The sisters filed a police report, and although Joung denied it was him within the photos, officers warned him that he’d be in bother if he continued trespassing.
Ms. Okay and her sister “discovered this trespass onto their property deeply disturbing, and scary,” the choice says.
She additionally obtained harassing calls and texts to her unlisted quantity — one caller stated he’d discovered her quantity written on a $20 invoice with guarantees of cellphone intercourse. Nonetheless, Prince wrote that she was unable to conclude that Joung was accountable for the calls.
Total, Prince stated it was clear Joung misused his energy over Ms. Okay, then set out on a marketing campaign of intimidation when she tried to carry him accountable.
Joung has been ordered to cease discriminating on the premise of intercourse and must pay curiosity on the quantity he owes to Ms. Okay if it isn’t paid instantly.
