CHARLOTTETOWN - A human rights panel in Prince Edward Island has ordered a hotel to pay a former employee about $15,000 in compensation for firing her after she told her boss she was pregnant.
The panel convened by the province's Human Rights Commission says the Inn on the Hill in Charlottetown discriminated against Alison MacKinnon when they let her go in October 2010.
The written decision from panel chairwoman Anne Nicholson concludes the hotel's reasons for MacKinnon's dismissal lacked credibility.
MacKinnon had worked as the administrative assistant to Tanya Bevan, the hotel's co-owner, and at the front desk less than a month when she told her boss she was pregnant.
The decision released Tuesday says Bevan and the general manager Roger Bevan called the woman back into the office less than an hour later and told her she was fired.
Tanya and Roger Bevan testified they discussed firing MacKinnon the week before she told them she was pregnant and her dismissal was within her probationary period.
However, Nicholson says the employers didn't advise MacKinnon of any concerns.
"An employee has a reasonable expectation that their employer will use some objective method of judging performance," Nicholson said in the decision.
The hotel is required to pay compensation for lost wages and lost employment insurance benefits valued at $11,700, and for "hurt and humiliation" valued at $3,500.
Tanya Bevan said she is reviewing the decision and declined comment.
