Woman fired from bank job after alleged rape by co-worker

Only six weeks after a woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by a co-worker, she was fired from her job at TD Bank by the agency that hired her — Robertson & Company.

“I thought they would believe me and that I would be safe,” Lindsay, who didn’t want her last name used, told CityNews from her Toronto home. “I thought they would protect me and they were going to take care of me because that’s all they said they were going to do. They didn’t, and they just made my mental health worse.”

Lindsay said the problems began after a co-worker was at her home for a party last February. She claimed he raped her and that she was reluctant to report it for fear of losing her job.

“I was scared,” she explained.

Lindsay reported the incident last month, and police laid charges. TD Bank was informed and, according to Lindsay, transferred the accused off-site. She said her managers even seemed to be supportive, but Lindsay said the trauma and then, going public at work, gave her severe anxiety.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not thinking about it and worrying about it,” she said.

Lindsay said she was eventually diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

“I offered (TD Bank) a letter,” she said. “I offered the staffing agency that represents me a letter from CAMH detailing my assessment that I’ve been in a trauma and that I’m suffering from anxiety and PTSD as a result of that.”

She said neither was interested in the diagnosis.

“They just kept reiterating that the business is being disrupted,” she said.

Lindsay explained she would find herself crying at her desk at times and that since her co-worker was charged, she had been absent from work about once a week.

“I have so many days where I’m just so scared of the unknown, of not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow,” she said.

Lior Samfiru, who specializes in employment law, said even though Lindsay was hired by an employment agency, TD Bank is ultimately responsible for accommodating her needs.

“The fact of the matter is she worked at TD under their control and supervision,” Samfiru said. “They have responsibilities for her like any employer and they cannot dispose of those obligations by creative hiring.

“TD was under a very strict legal duty to provide accommodation, whether that is to allow her to take time off work, whether that is to ensure that she gets the help that she needs, and certainly they cannot penalize her for trying to do that.

“(There is) very strict legislation in Canada, several pieces of legislation in fact, that mandate that an employer cannot penalize an employee in any way because they have a medical condition — and whether that’s mental health, whether that’s a physical condition. So, TD was under a strict legal duty here.”

CityNews reached out to both Robertson & Company and TD Bank several times via email, asking about accommodations and mental health benefits available to Lindsay and who made the decision to terminate her contract more than four months early.

Robertson & Company did not respond. TD spokeswoman Emily Vear provided this written response: “This is a very serious charge and we are cooperating with authorities. As a matter of policy, and to respect the privacy of the parties involved, I cannot provide any information about this case.”

In a June 22 email Lindsay sent to her TD supervisor, she wrote:

“I am suffering from severe generalized anxiety and extreme PTSD as a direct result from a sexual assault by a colleague. Sitting in the office having to pretend I’m perfectly fine with nothing but constant reminders, lack of support and my PTSD, has pushed me to my breaking point. I can no longer pretend I’m okay when it’s quite obvious I’m not.”

By the end of business that day, she was sent an “end of contract” letter from Robertson & Company, without an explicit explanation for the termination.

She said in the lead-up to her termination, the agency was pushing her to be at work regardless of the mental and physical effects she was experiencing.

“They are making my mental health worse,” Lindsay said as she held back tears. “They just keep pushing and pushing and pushing, and I’m done.”

She said neither TD Bank nor Robertson & Company offered her any accommodation at work — and sexual violence victims’ advocate Farrah Khan said that doesn’t happen enough.

“People don’t have a lot of understanding about the impact that being a victim of crime — specifically domestic or sexual violence — can have on their long-term mental health but also their physical health,” Khan explained.

“We need to have workplaces that accommodate that and understand that people need to talk about mental health in the workplace. They need accommodations so they can understand the impact and be better workers and so the community can support them.

“They are going to have moments when they cry; they are going to have feelings and we need workplaces to understand this and not punish or blame or shame someone when they had no choice about something that happened to them.

Lindsay said she feels punished for speaking out about the impact the alleged assault had on her mental well-being.

“I’m happy to be there,” she said. “I want to support myself. I want to live a normal life. The issue is, I have trouble leaving my home. With my anxiety and PTSD, there’s just this unknown that I can’t get myself out of.”

She said after CityNews contacted Robertson & Company, a vice-president with the company left her a voicemail promising to resume paying her salary so she has “no more financial burdens.” But her job at TD remained terminated.

She told CityNews she would not accept the cash.

Update: CityNews has removed Lindsay’s surname at her request for privacy.
Sept. 14, 2017