Comments weren't racist, woman awarded $28,000
Last Updated: Thursday, October 18, 2007 | 1:07 PM ET
The Canadian Press
An Ontario court has awarded more than $28,000 in severance pay to a white woman who was fired from a women's shelter in Toronto amid allegations of racism.
Karen Butler-Lynch lost her job at Dr. Roz's Healing Place last year after she allegedly told superiors she found it hard working as a white person in a predominantly black workplace.
The judge says Butler-Lynch's firing was unfair and unjust because her comments didn't amount to racism.
The court also described the way she was dismissed as thoughtless and badly handled.
Butler-Lynch was awarded the equivalent of six months' pay in lieu of notice, plus an additional two months' pay for the way she was fired.
The judge warned against allowing subjective feelings of hurt to take on a life of their own, especially in a demanding work environment.
Dr. Roz's Healing Place, located in Scarborough and once known as the Emily Stowe Shelter for Women, provides a home to abused women and their children.
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