PREGNANT TECH EMPLOYEE AWARDED MORE THAN $20,000 FOR DISCRIMINATORY TERMINATION

PREGNANT TECH EMPLOYEE AWARDED MORE THAN $20,000 FOR DISCRIMINATORY TERMINATION

A tech worker has been awarded more than $20,000 in damages and other relief after her employer Data & Scientific Inc. fired her when she requested maternity leave. This is the latest in a series of human rights cases against Tope Akinbiyi, the Executive Vice President of Data & Scientific Inc., who has repeatedly been found by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) to have breached Ontario’s Human Rights Code through sex and gender-based harassment of his employees.

The Human Rights Legal Support Centre (HRLSC) represented the applicant in the case of Lam v. Data & Scientific Inc., 2025 HRTO 2813, after she was terminated just days before completing probation and gaining permanent status with benefits. The firing also came within hours of the applicant notifying her employer that she was nearly seven months pregnant and planned to take one year of maternity leave.

The HRTO heard that throughout her employment, the applicant had endured various types of harassment from Akinbiyi, who is listed as the principal officer of Data & Scientific Inc. Akinbiyi repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the applicant’s previous work, stating he could never fully trust her because of her place of origin, accused her of planning not to return after maternity leave, and made a vulgar remark about her becoming pregnant.

In its decision, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) concluded that the applicant “experienced harassment in the workplace, including sexual harassment with the personal respondent making clear unwelcome comments about the applicant’s place of origin, her pregnancy and a particularly sexualized, vulgar and egregious comment about the applicant becoming pregnant.”

The HRTO ordered:

• Reimbursement for lost wages;
• Reimbursement for expenses that would have been covered by benefits;
• $17,500 in general damages for termination due to pregnancy;
• $7,500 in general damages for harassment; and
• Creation of a human rights policy by the respondents.