An Ontario woman employed by a cottage country tourism operator for two months in 2017 has successfully sued her former employer after being sexually harassed by the company’s owner.
Chelsea Cloutier was employed by Back Country Tours Inc. from May 15, 2017 to June 16, 2017. In her early 20s at the time, Cloutier said she was repeatedly accosted by her boss, Dudley Hookong, who was the sole owner, director and operator of Back Country.
Online records for the company state it offered jet ski and ATV rentals to people in Haliburton County and Muskoka. The company was operated from a property overlooking Lake of Bays on Hwy. 60 in Dwight.
Cloutier told the tribunal Hookong behaved in ways that made her feel uncomfortable, manipulated, belittled, objectified, sexually harassed, anxious and unsafe. She said there were numerous incidents that “created a poisoned work environment” until her resignation.
“On numerous occasions [Hookong said] he would take care of [Cloutier’s] food and shelter and manipulated circumstances so that… she was forced to share accommodation with him in an on-site RV, or when on a business trip only one hotel room would be booked,” the tribunal transcript reads.
On two such trips, Hookong booked accommodations that resulted in Cloutier and Hooking sharing a bed… he would text her when he was away to say how much he missed her, pressured her to drink alcohol, and routinely sexually solicited her.
Cloutier was awarded $32,500 by HRTO, with the compensation for “injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect.” By the time of the HRTO hearing, Hookong had passed away, but his estate was named in the human rights application in response to his actions.
The Human Rights Legal Support Centre supported Cloutier throughout the process, with lawyer Jamie McGinnis saying, “this case puts predatory employers on notice that a poisoned work environment where a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination against women is nurtured, is unacceptable.”
