Health Law

Food Safety In Canada Put In Danger By Daffy Decision

By Marler Clark

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that there is no evidence of: the relationship between food contamination and hand-washing; nor is there any  risk to the public if a restaurant employee's hand-washing is limited (or non-existent) and no reason for concern about other employees being adversely affected.  

So maybe  if your planning a vacation trip or convention in Vancouver, BC, you may want to cancel now and RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!  

The context for this daffy decision by the BC Tribunal was a dispute between McDonald's and long-time employee Beena Datt.   After working at McD's for more than 20 years, Ms. Datt came down with a skin condition that her doctor said limited or prevented her from being able to wash her hands as often as required by McDonald's policy for all employees.

There's a long story here and it is told by the blog Northern Exposure, which covers employment law for U.S. companies with employees in Canada.    It's a great read.  Check it out here.

The bottom line is McDonald's was ordered to pay Ms. Datt about $55,000 for what apparently amounts to unlawful dismissal.   Who among us can be critical of someone else for getting McDonald's to pay up?  

Still to make an actual finding that there is no link between food contamination and failure of restaurant workers to wash their hands is so stupid, one has to question what's going on in name of "human rights" in Canada.   No restaurant worker has the right to make his or her fellow workers or their customers sick.

Canada may want to be taken seriously in the worst way.   Well, this is the worst way.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on April 16, 2008 (boomark / email).