BUSAD 120 Lecture 32: BUSAD 120 - LE 32
Nahas
BUSAD 120
Business Law
LE
Spring 2018
Commission Scolaire Marguerite Bourgeois v. Singh: SCC
Legal Issues:
● Discrimination; Freedom of religion
Parties:
● Commission Scolaire Marguerite Bourgeois (Respondent)
● Singh (Appellant)
Facts/Decision:
● The interference with the boy’s freedom of religion has deprives him from going to
public school because he cannot wear his Kirpan (dictated by Hindu laws). By doing so,
the messaged sent by the school is that some religious values aren’t as important as
others. Also, the risk of the Kirpan being used as a weapon is extremely low and
therefore danger to society doesn’t take precedence over freedom of religion in this case.
3. B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union v. The Province of B.C. : SCC
Legal Issues:
● Discrimination; Reverse discrimination; BFOR
Parties:
● The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (Appellant)
● The Government of the Province of B.C. (Respondent)
Facts/Decision:
● Tawney Meiorin, a female firefighter couldn’t run fast enough for her employer’s testing
ability criteria. She fell short of a 2.5km run by nearly 50 seconds, and even though the
employer let her retry four times, she still failed. She was eventually fired. She went to
arbitration, who sided with Tawney, stating that there was an adverse effect
discrimination and that she shouldn’t be fired.
● The Court of Appeal disagreed because it would be discriminatory if women were held to
a lower standard than men.
● The SCC: Was the B.C. Government just in firing Meiorin?
o The SCC looks at a BFOR (bona fide occupational requirement) in order to
determine if the firing of Meiorin was just. It is a minimum qualification that is
absolutely necessary to meet the standard of the job.
o Meiorin Test: employer can justify standard on establishing test if:
▪ Employer adopted standard for a purpose rationally connected to the
performance of the job (yes in this case)
Document Summary
The interference with the boy"s freedom of religion has deprives him from going to public school because he cannot wear his kirpan (dictated by hindu laws). By doing so, the messaged sent by the school is that some religious values aren"t as important as others. Also, the risk of the kirpan being used as a weapon is extremely low and therefore danger to society doesn"t take precedence over freedom of religion in this case: b. c. Government and service employees" union v. the province of b. c. The government of the province of b. c. (respondent) Tawney meiorin, a female firefighter couldn"t run fast enough for her employer"s testing ability criteria. She fell short of a 2. 5km run by nearly 50 seconds, and even though the employer let her retry four times, she still failed. She went to arbitration, who sided with tawney, stating that there was an adverse effect discrimination and that she shouldn"t be fired.
