Make Up Artist Accuses Anchor of Sexual Harassment
/
A network Anchor is being accused by a Make Up Artist of Sexual Harassment.
CBC News reports that a Vancouver make-up artist has filed an application in Federal Court seeking to have the Canadian Human Rights Commission consider a sexual harassment complaint against Global B.C. news anchor Chris Gailus.
According to court documents, Dawne Koke claims Gailus made remarks about her buttocks, pretended to get erections while she was applying his make-up and grabbed her buttock on one occasion at a work party.
She claims Gailus apologized to her in an email after she confronted him and that he then stopped making inappropriate comments.
Koke filed the human rights complaint in December 2014 against Shaw, which then owned Global. She followed up with a complaint alleging retaliation after her employment was terminated in August 2015.
The CHRC refused to hear the complaint because Koke has outstanding union grievances in respect to the end of her employment which the commission said would cover the same territory as her human rights complaint.
But in her application for a judicial review of that decision, Koke claims the union "refused to file a grievance with Shaw regarding (her) allegations of sexual harassment by Gailus or (her) allegations that Shaw did not follow company policy in respect of the applicant's internal complaint of sexual harassment."
She is asking the Federal Court to add Gailus' name as a respondent to her original complaint against Shaw. She also wants an order for the CHRC to investigate and prepare a report on the merits of her complaint.
In a Facebook post, Global B.C. said the company "was aware of an accusation against a member of the Global B.C. staff" but did not name Gailus. The post said "the allegation was determined to be unfounded" and noted that Global News has "a zero tolerance approach to these matters."
