Cautionary tale: HRTO penalizes citizenship-based wage discrimination

In a recent 2024 decision, the HRTO awarded the second highest damages in its history, ordering Ray Daniel Salon & Spa and its operator, Reza Khosravi, to pay $180,000 to the applicant, L.N., a refugee from Iran. The tribunal found that paying L.N., a non-citizen, less than minimum wage constituted citizenship-based discrimination, adding a new dimension to employment rights for vulnerable newcomers.

L.N., who arrived in Canada in 2019, had been forced into marriage at 13, later remarried, and fled to Canada after converting to Christianity and facing severe persecution. She worked at the salon earning $5 per hour without knowing the minimum wage law. Khosravi sexually harassed, assaulted, and threatened her, and fired her after two months without paying her owed wages.

Khosravi, absent from the hearing, was found to have reprised against L.N. by filing a retaliatory lawsuit for defamation in Small Claims Court and attempting to intimidate her through her psychologist in Iran. The tribunal found L.N.'s testimony credible and consistent, supported by her friend and psychologist. This decision strengthens the rights of newcomer workers against exploitation.