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Canwest News Service
Kasha Whyte was devastated the day she was fired from her job as a CN Rail conductor.
“It was pretty brutal. That was my career and it was over just like that,” she said last week. “There wasn’t even an investigation. I didn’t get to talk to anybody. We just got form letters.”
Whyte, a 16-year CN employee, was one of four Jasper women fired by CN in 2005 for refusing to accept a temporary assignment to Vancouver. Whyte and Cindy Richards, both single moms who cited family reasons for their inability to transfer, have taken their case to the Canadian Human Rights Commission in a bid to get their jobs back.
A commission tribunal headed by Michel Doucet wound up hearings in Jasper a couple of weeks ago. It is expected to be several months before a decision is announced.
Whyte, 45, is hoping for a landmark ruling that protects Canadians from being fired for refusing transfers when they have legitimate family obligations that prevent them from moving.
“There are a lot of eyes on this case to see what happens,” she said.
“It is interesting because you can’t be fired if you have a disability, you can’t be fired if you’re pregnant, but this is all new ground that hasn’t been explored.”
Whyte said she was travelling back and forth between Jasper and Edmonton seeking treatment for her sick boy when she got word from her employer that she was needed to cover the staff shortage in Vancouver. She had been awaiting recall after a routine layoff, but she didn’t think she was in any position to move for an unspecified period with her six-year-old son struggling with respiratory problems.
She wrote to CN’s senior manager of labour relations asking to be excused from the transfer, citing the fact that she didn’t want to interrupt her son’s schooling and living arrangements. She also feared moving her son to B.C. could trigger a custody battle with the boy’s father.
She eventually received notice that she was being granted extra time to report, but she still had to be in Vancouver in a couple of weeks.
CN and union officials declined to comment on the case while a tribunal decision is pending.
Whyte had a job working as a waitress in Jasper, but she eventually found other employment that allowed her to be at home with her son during evenings and weekends.
She believes the decision to dismiss her was “cold-hearted and callous. It’s sad to say, but the whole company has just turned into this brutal machine that doesn’t care.”
People have asked her why she wants to go back and work for CN. She said the money was good — conductors earn six figures annually — and she really loved her job.
As the conductor on a freight train, Whyte would make runs to Edmonton, Kamloops and Prince George and was responsible for picking up and dropping off cars from the train.
A resident of Jasper for 22 years, she said she has the support of her co-workers, many of whom attended the human rights commission hearings from September through mid-November.
Whyte hopes the tribunal will rule in her favour.
“I know in my heart they were wrong, completely.
” I can’t choose between my child and my job.”
