The owner of a Whitehorse pizza shop has apologized to a woman who was not considered for a job because of her gender.
The incident happened in November. Georgina Dawson wrote on Facebook that she had applied for a job at Tony’s Pizza but never heard back.
“I would prefer to have a male in the kitchen, less distraction for the other male employees,” wrote Kathleen Lundgaard, who owns the shop with her husband Bo.
Dawson decided to go to the Yukon Human Rights Commission.
“I pursued the complaint because I felt strongly that it is our responsibility as community members to speak up when discrimination happens,” Dawson wrote in a statement.
“For my daughter and all women, I had to speak up. This has created awareness of discrimination that continues to exist in our community.”
As part of a settlement, Lundgaard gave Dawson a written apology Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, we made a mistake when we decided not to consider your resume because of your sex. It was not our intention to offend you or anyone. We want to make this right, and to restore our relationship with you and with the community,” she said.
“Working through the settlement process was educational for us and we look forward to working with the commission to improve our employment policies.”
Jessica Thompson, director of the Yukon Human Rights Commission, said that since the original dispute played out over social media, both sides wanted the apology to be equally public.
Other details of the settlement are confidential, but both sides were happy with the outcome, Thompson said.
Most cases before the commission are resolved in a similar way, through mediation or other resolutions that don’t end up with a public hearing, said Thompson.
“We answer hundreds of inquiries every year and it’s only one or two that become quite entrenched, that people hear about,” she said. “Meanwhile we actually deal with literally hundreds of phone calls or inquiries. Many of those are resolved before a complaint is even filed.”