Rights complaint over dismissal after cancer fight

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This article was published 07/07/2016 (3620 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg woman has filed a human rights complaint after losing her job following a leave of absence to fight cancer.

Margaret Koshinsky previously managed marketing and communications for the Winnipeg Folk Festival and was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in fall 2013.

She worked for four months after she was diagnosed with cancer and during chemotherapy, and was on long-term disability for one and a half years when she was cleared by a doctor to go back to work. She expected to return to her position.

Koshinsky said she attempted to do a gradual return to work, which the festival initially denied. After her insurance provider spoke with the festival and offered to pay for the gradual return, she said she tried to set up meetings to determine a start date, but her employer wouldn’t accommodate any. Finally, a meeting was scheduled for mid-March.

“I went in optimistic, thinking that we’d be reviewing that schedule to see if it was going to be Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.”

But she said her excitement was quickly dashed when festival staff told her the position would be terminated because someone else had been hired.

Now, Koshinsky said she’s taken her experience to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to other people fighting diseases, even though it was difficult to go against an organization she’s believed in for so long. 

“It’s a discrimination not to bring someone back if the perception is that they can’t do their job because they have gone through some kind of medical event,” Koshinsky said. 

“It was a real conflict of interest for me to file a complaint against the Winnipeg Folk Festival. As the communications manager, I’m a champion of the brand. It was really counterintuitive for me, and I struggled with that for a long time.”

The Winnipeg Folk Festival acknowledges it replied to Koshinsky’s complaint, said an email statement from Lynne Skromeda, executive director.

“We attempted to accommodate Ms. Koshinsky up to the point of undue hardship. We also ensured we protected her eligibility for benefits for the length of the leave,” the statement said.

Koshinsky said she received that reply at the end of June and was surprised at the festival’s response to the human rights commission.

“They certainly deny that they’re in violation of the code, but they actually go so far as to say that my complaint is ‘frivolous,’” Koshinsky said.

Koshinsky said at this point she’s seeking employment elsewhere and is unsure she would go back to the festival if the opportunity arose. She said she’s not fighting to get her job back, but standing up for her rights and the rights of others.

“I feel like it’s almost like a calling now,” Koshinsky said. “It’s just so obvious that I need to do that. To shine a light on the perceptions of cancer and workplace discrimination and also just to inspire people who are going through the fight of their life.”

bailey.hildebrand@freepress.mb.ca