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Asking worker back not good enough for manager who accused employee of theft: Court
LEGAL VIEW
A grocery store in Edmonton has been ordered to pay a fired worker seven months' wages in lieu of notice, plus an additional $4,500 in damages, for the way it treated the woman in the time leading up to her dismissal.
Darlene Horyn, 50, was an evening manager at Waysave Family Foods, a neighbourhood grocery store in Edmonton. Her duties included cashing out, closing the store and supervising up to three employees on the shift. She was friends with the Fedoretz family - who owned the store - and had previously worked for them before joining Waysave in 2003.
Horyn reported to the owners regularly, usually by phone. Gradually, the original owner, Michael Fedoretz, stepped back from the business and his son Howard took over, with Horyn reporting to Howard.
In early 2011, another grocery store opened in the area and Howard Fedoretz - now managing the store - became edgy and stressed. When Horyn made her regular reports to him, he was curt and abrasive. On April 7, Fedoretz called Horyn to the back of the store and began yelling and swearing at her, asking: "What's your (expletive) problem?"
He accused Horyn of sabotaging him and insulted her using profane language.
Horyn was "confused and dumbfounded" and didn't know what Fedoretz was talking about. She began to cry and went back to the front...