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By Joe Fries
A former employee of the Westside Warriors has launched a human rights complaint alleging that one of the hockey club’s volunteers sexually harassed her on two occasions.
The matter is now set to go before a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal hearing here in Kelowna.
Details of the matter and responses from the subject of the complaint, along with the Westside Warriors Junior A Hockey Club and its owner, Visions Sports Group LLP, were all obtained by Kelowna.com. None of them have been proven or substantiated yet.
Marie Carrothers claims that in late August, 2008 she was in the club’s office when Brent Fournier, a Warriors volunteer, showed up to return $2,000 that she and her husband had lent him. Carrothers says Fournier asked her to go into a back office, and once there, slipped the cash into her bra and left.
The complainant was “shocked,” but didn’t mention the incident to her employer because, “there was a lot of instability in the office and I was concerned for my job.”
In his response, Fournier claims the exchange happened in the main office area with other people around, and that the money was in an envelope that he passed her under a counter so no one could see, because he was embarrassed about having to borrow money. He notes that he was later invited to the couple’s house for Christmas dinner.
The second incident is alleged to have occurred on Jan. 14, 2009. Carrothers says she and Fournier were getting ready to leave the office, when he came up behind her, put his hand on her shoulder and spun her around to face him. She said he then kissed her on the lips and mentioned something about New Year’s.
Fournier says he never kissed her and that he was in Vernon for the BCHL all-star game that afternoon, although Carrothers countered that by saying he left for Vernon after the incident. Fournier asked for both complaints against him to be dismissed.
Former Warriors co-owner Gary Gelinas responded on behalf of the team and the ownership group, and says the incidents were not disclosed until Jan. 21, 2009, two days after Carrothers was let go.
Further, he says that Fournier was not directly employed by the team, but acted as a volunteer and provided Internet-related services in exchange for unspecified benefits. As such, Gelinas asked for the complaint against the Warriors and its owners to be dismissed. Carrothers, however, provided the tribunal with a business card bearing a Warriors logo with Fournier’s name on it listing him as an off-ice official/technical manager.
In June, 2009, a tribunal member denied all applications to dismiss, and the matter was set down for a four-day hearing in April.
Fournier is still listed on the Warriors’ website as an off-ice official.
Carrothers told the tribunal she filed the complaint because, “I want to make sure that the workplace is accountable and that in the future they have ways to deal with incidents such as these. I want to make sure that steps are taken to protect employees, volunteers and fans.”
If the tribunal rules in the complainant’s favour, it can order a range of remedies, from financial compensation to actions to prevent future complaints. Remedies are enforceable in court, and decisions can be appealed there as well.
joe@kelowna.com
25-575-4303
Tags: bc human rights tribunal, BCHL, brent fournier, Gary Gelinas, marie carrothers, sexual harassment, Westside Warriors
