Man wins case to work in French: Quebec tribunal

A man who asserted his right to work in French has won his case before the labour Tribunal, invoking the new provisions of the province’s French-language law (Bill 96) to that effect.

The complainant had not obtained a position for which he had applied in the procurement and logistics department of a company.

He complained to the Labour Administrative Tribunal, contesting the employer’s request to submit his CV in English and to conduct the job interview in Korean.

He had first submitted his resume in French, then the employer had asked him to send a version in English — which he had done.

Before the tribunal, the employer’s representative argued that the man did not get the job because he did not have the required skills. He also argued that the English and Korean language requirements were necessary to perform the duties associated with the posted position.

But the tribunal decided otherwise after hearing the evidence.

The Tribunal recalls that “an employer is prohibited from requiring a person, in order to remain in or access a position, including by recruitment, hiring, transfer or promotion, to have knowledge or a specific level of knowledge of a language other than the official language, unless the performance of the task requires such knowledge; even then, he must first have taken all reasonable steps to avoid imposing such a requirement,” the decision states.

The employer’s representative had also justified his request to obtain the English version of the complainant’s resume and to hold the interview in a language other than French by the fact that he did not understand French.

n its decision, the tribunal stated that the company “failed to demonstrate that it had met all the conditions for concluding that it had taken reasonable steps to avoid imposing the requirement of knowledge of English and Korean before proceeding with the posting of the position.”

The complaint was, therefore, upheld by the tribunal. It reserved its powers to determine possible remedies.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews