Shillong, July 14: The owner of a Husky gas station in Burnaby, Kuldip Singh, has been ordered to pay a fine of $60,000 by a human rights tribunal. The tribunal found that Singh took advantage of an Indian worker, Harika Kasagoni, who had a precarious immigration status.
According to CBC News, Singh withheld Kasagoni’s overtime pay for a period of two years and accused her of lying about an injury she sustained. The incident occurred after Kasagoni filed a claim with WorkSafeBC for her workplace injury. Singh became angry about the claim, which eventually led to Kasagoni being fired from her job. Losing her employment was particularly detrimental to her as it was a requirement for obtaining permanent residency status.
During the hearing at the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, it was revealed that Kasagoni, who was 23 years old at the time, had come to Canada in 2013 with aspirations of pursuing further education and settling in the country. In November of that year, she obtained an open work permit and started working part-time for Singh at the Husky gas station. Initially hired as a “customer service representative” with a wage of $10.25 per hour, Kasagoni progressed to a full-time supervisor position by January 2014.
Singh, who initially praised her as an excellent and honest employee, agreed to support Kasagoni’s application for permanent residency through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in 2015. He referred her to an immigration consultant who, in addition to their fees, charged Kasagoni $6,500 in cash as payment to Singh for his support.
IANS reported that in December 2016, Kasagoni suffered a fall and sustained an injury. When she informed her doctor that the incident occurred at work, she was referred to WorkSafeBC, which accepted her claim. However, Singh disputed the authenticity of her workplace injury, alleging that Kasagoni was fabricating the incident in order to access WorkSafeBC benefits.
In her complaint, Kasagoni asserted that Singh discriminated against her by underpaying her, harassing her regarding her disability-related claim with WorkSafeBC, terminating her employment, and pressuring her to pay $6,500 in support of her PNP application. The tribunal ruled in her favor, imposing a $60,000 fine on Singh for his exploitative actions.