The NEW NORM

On May 22, 2014, Meredith Boucher got the bad news that her original financial award against her former employer, Wal-Mart Canada, was reduced by more than $1 million. However, the good news was that on appeal Wal-Mart and her former store manager were still on the hook for $410,000 due to his outrageous conduct and the company not following its own processes.

Meredith Boucher worked at Wal-Mart in southern Ontario for ten years where she, reached the position of assistant manager at the Windsor store, working for manager Jason Pinnock. Initially Pinnock evaluated her as “overall, a great asset to any team.”

However, six months into this job, Boucher refused to falsify records showing certain temperatures of the store’s food storage coolers, resulting in a disciplinary coaching session from Pinnock. She spoke to the company’s district people manager about this incident, as well as about the way Pinnock swore at her and other female assistant managers.

Pinnock found out about this meeting and became verbally abusive to her, belittling her in front of other employees, even calling employees in, so they could hear how “stupid” she was.

One assistant manager testified that Pinnock was “ferocious” toward Boucher; another said it was “terrible, horrific.” After months of abuse Boucher met with Wal-Mart’s senior managers, who warned her there would be discipline if her claims were untrue. After they investigated and determined her claims to be “unsubstantiated,” they told Boucher she would be disciplined. Pinnock was merely cautioned about his and his team’s use of inappropriate language.

Days later, Pinnock grabbed Boucher by the elbow regarding ten skids improperly unloaded. In front of other employees, the judge wrote, “he told her to prove to him that she could count to ten. He prompted her by initiating the count then told her to count out loud along with him.” Boucher left the store, and sued Wal-Mart.

This appalling abuse of employees, and the way the company didn’t address the real problem let’s us know that some people could benefit from my Respectful Workplace online course where I spell out the importance of proper and fair procedures to address workplace harassment bullying and discrimination.

As one of the largest companies in the world, Wal-Mart has very clear and well thought-out policies for dealing with inappropriate behaviour and it’s “people managers” are expected to ensure they are followed correctly. The Court of Appeal judge noted that when the store’s people manager cautioned Pinnock on the way he treated Boucher, Pinnock replied, “Not until she fucking quits.” The judge noted, “When Pinnock found out that Boucher had quit, he was overjoyed. He had achieved his goal.”

On the issue of whether Pinnock and Wal-Mart were liable for the “intentional infliction of mental suffering,” the judge stated, “The evidence…shows that Pinnock intended by his conduct to cause the very harm that occurred; he wished to cause Boucher so much stress or mental anguish that she would resign.”

As for Wal-Mart’s internal investigative process, the judge said, “In reaching their findings, Wal-Mart's management team appeared to ignore the numerous incidents in which Pinnock berated Boucher in front of co-workers. And little evidence was led at trial that Wal-Mart's investigators sought information from the other assistant managers who had witnessed Pinnock's abusive conduct.”

Much was summed up in this paragraph: “Wal-Mart took no steps to bring an end to Pinnock's misconduct. It did not take Boucher's complaints seriously, finding them unsubstantiated despite substantial evidence from co-workers that they were well-founded. It failed to enforce its workplace policies, which on their face were designed to protect employees from the kind of treatment Pinnock subjected Boucher to.

And it threatened Boucher with retaliation for making her complaints, an especially vindictive act…These considerations show that Wal-Mart's own conduct justified a separate and substantial award for aggravated damages.”

In the end, in addition to the eight months Wal-Mart paid her for severance, Meredith Boucher was awarded $410,000 for intentional infliction of mental suffering, aggravated damages and punitive damages.