BC man whose job offer nixed over criminal record wins 1st round of human rights case

A BC man who had a job offer rescinded has won the first round of a Human Rights Tribunal dispute alleging he didn't get the job because he has a criminal record. According to a May 28 BC Human Rights Tribunal decision, in September 2020 Michael Buzny was offered a job at CyberClan on the condition of passing a background check. Buzny then told the company he had an unrelated criminal record. A few days later he was told the company had rescinded the job offer. Buzny claims the company discriminated against him because he has a criminal record, which is completely unrelated to the job. In BC, the Human Rights Act says that an employer can't discriminate against a person because race, colour, sex, age, political belief and numerous other factors. It also stipulates that an employer can't discriminate against an employee because that person has been convicted of a criminal offence that is unrelated to the employment. Buzny argued his criminal record was completely unrelated to his job offer as a security engineer/incident responder. CyberClan argued the reason the job offer was rescinded was because the company put a hiring freeze in place a couple of days after the offer. The company applied to throw the case out but the Tribunal rejected it. The decision doesn't say what Buzny's criminal record was for and the Tribunal makes the point of stating that it doesn't know what the criminal record is. In its defence, CyberClan submitted emails from management discussing a hiring freeze. However, the Tribunal ruled the emails were two months after the job was rescinded and only said that a hiring freeze was "required." The Tribunal points to Buzny’s "attack on the deficiencies and inconsistencies" in CyberClan's evidence and how it didn't file reply submissions to refute Buzny’s claim. "In all of the circumstances, I am not convinced that there is no reasonable prospect Mr. Buzny will establish that there is a connection between his criminal convictions and CyberClan’s withdrawal of his employment offer," the Tribunal ruled. The Human Rights Tribunal's move means the case can go to a hearing to be decided, although the two parties could resolve the issue at mediation. To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer mailto:bbulmer@infonews.ca  or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .