“When you’re terminating employment based on a single act, it raises the bar – you need to double check the situation so that you know that, if challenged, you've got everything because it rides on
one incidence of misconduct, and that's really difficult [to justify termination].”
So says labour and employment lawyer Michael Horvat of Aird and Berlis in Toronto, after an Ontario arbitrator reinstated a worker after she was fired for sending an email questioning the celebration of
the LGBTQ2S+ community to all of colleagues.
The worker was an occasional teacher with the Northwest Catholic District School Board (NCDS) based in Dryden and Fort Francis, Ont., who was hired in April 2019. She had no discipline on her file or
any complaints from teachers, parents or students.
On June 15, 2022, the NCDS chaplain sent an email to all teachers discussing Pride and Indigenous History Month. The email included an article by a Jesuit asking the pope about how to embrace and
support the LGBTQ2S+ community.
The worker sent an email in response that she intended to send just to the chaplain, but she inadvertently sent it to all of the teachers in the NCDS. In the email, the worker stated that she was disappointed
to see “the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ are being trampled upon” and that “we now uphold the cultural pitfalls of celebrating LGBTQ+ lifestyles rather than regarding gay pride as problematic…”
She also said that homosexuality was “one of the controversial issues in the Catholic faith.”
‘Officially fired’ after email
The NCDS’ director of education asked the IT department to recall the email, but they were unable to. The director then asked the manager of HR to cancel two assignments the worker had coming up
and told her that she didn’t want the worker working for the board. The HR manager said they could just stop calling the worker for assignments, but the director wanted the worker “officially fired”
so she wouldn’t be hired again by the NCDS.
About a half-hour after the worker’s email, the director emailed all staff saying that “we are deeply committed to supporting the dignity, worth, and safety of all people.”
The worker’s work email account was shut down and, about two hours after her email, the director spoke with the worker and told her that her email was locked and NCDS schools were safe and inclusive
spaces. The worker responded by saying “safe and inclusive for everyone but me.”
When told that the email had gone to the entire teaching staff, the worker said that she had intended to respond only to the chaplain. She also said that she had been reading about the teachings of the
Catholic Church and her email was consistent with those teachings. The director informed her that her previously scheduled teaching assignments had been cancelled and she would hear from the HR manager.
About four hours after the email had gone out, the director signed a termination letter. A short time later, the HR manager texted the teachers’ union about the termination decision.
Conflict in religious beliefs
The next morning, June 16, the NCDS sent the termination letter to the worker. The letter stated that the worker’s email was “offensive, unacceptable and highly unprofessional” and it violated the NCDS’
mission, vision and values, expectations for teachers to respect the “dignity and worth of students, parents, guardians and colleagues”, and its code of conduct for teachers to respect and treat others fairly.
The union grieved the discharge, arguing that the decision to terminate was “a procedurally flawed process” that was too rushed and failed to consider the worker’s intentions, the ongoing debate on
LGBTQ2S+ issues within the Catholic Church, and the lack of discipline on the worker’s record.
The worker said that she regretted some of the language used in the email and accidentally sending it to all teachers instead of just the chaplain.
The NCDS maintained that the decision to terminate was based on the contents of the email – which it said was “hateful and discriminated against the LGBTQ2S+ community” - and the fact that the worker
didn’t apologize. The board said that it sought to celebrate all “children of God” and its schools representated a “welcoming and safe place for everyone, including LGBTQ2S+ students and staff.”
The NCDS also said that it wanted to move quickly in order to minimize any harm it may have caused to the LGBTQ2S+ community and the culture the board was trying to promote. It pointed out that a number
of NCDS staff had communicated that they had been offended by the email.
