B.C. Appeal Court dismisses female police officers' sexual harassment case
The B.C. Appeal Court has ruled that female police officers must use union grievance processes instead of a class-action lawsuit to address their claims of sexual harassment and discrimination.Summary
The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by female police officers seeking to launch a class-action lawsuit against municipal police forces for sexual harassment and discrimination. The court upheld a lower court ruling that the dispute should be resolved through the union's grievance process rather than through the courts. The officers, including Lauren Phillips, Anja Bergler, Helen Irvine, Cary Ryan, and Ann-Sue Piper, argued that their claims of systemic discrimination and a "poisoned police culture" required a class-action lawsuit. However, Chief Justice Leonard Marchand noted that the law grants arbitrators exclusive jurisdiction over labour disputes under collective agreements. The court found that the lower court judge correctly determined that the complaints fell within the exclusive jurisdiction of the grievance process and dismissed the appeal.
(Source：The Province)