Quebec restaurant ordered to reinstate waitress fired for allegedly not smiling

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The owner told the tribunal, however, that Daunais was also let go “because of her bad attitude and for not smiling enough.”

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The restaurant owner added “everyone had problems with her” and with regards to back pay, the owner said she was the only person out of 35 employees who had complained.

She was eventually given all the money owed to her, the judgement reads.

Tribunal judge Christian Drolet didn’t recognize the restaurant’s excuse as serious, finding instead they used it as a pretext to terminate the only employee who asked for back pay — notably the day before she was fired.

He added the plaintiff made reasonable efforts to minimize the damage by looking for another job.

“There is no reason to conclude that a comparable job was available or that she unreasonably withheld an offer of employment that she should reasonably have accepted,” he wrote.

Drolet ordered Coco Frutti to reinstate her, pay her $28,240 in lost wages, and about $2,000 in interest.

The Canadian Press