MONTREAL — The Quebec Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a daycare owner to pay $2,000 in moral damages to a former Jewish employee who insisted on taking off two days – unpaid – for the High Holidays.

Judge Pierre Audet ruled in favour of Daniela Strauber, a former employee at the Garderie Educative Le Futur de l’Enfant Inc., owned by Evangelia Kalogrias. He found that the daycare owner discriminated against Strauber on the basis of religion, a violation of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

Strauber, who now lives in Victoria, B.C., filed a complaint in October 2004 with the Quebec Human Rights Commission after she said she was fired for refusing her employers’ demand that she take off just one of the days of Rosh Hashanah.

Kalogrias testified that she could not find a substitute for both days. She also denied that she fired Strauber, saying the latter quit of her own accord, giving two weeks notice.

The tribunal found that Kalogrias violated Strauber’s right to equality and dignity “without distinction, exclusion or preference” based on religion and failed in her duty to accommodate her employee’s religious beliefs.

In effect, the tribunal said that an employee should not have to choose between keeping a job and violating his or her faith, unless an employer has taken all reasonable steps to avoid this.

The tribunal, however, rejected the commission’s recommendation that the daycare pay Strauber the total sum of $8,059.29, including $2,059.20 in material damages for lost salary and $6,000 in moral damages.

Because of the contradictory testimonies, the tribunal could not establish if Strauber had, in fact, been dismissed, so it didn’t award any material damages. It also reduced the recommended moral damages by two-thirds, stating that the final amount is “just and reasonable” under the circumstances.

Strauber, a Romanian immigrant, was hired by the daycare in November 2003 as a temporary educator for a group of two-year-olds, replacing a staff member who was on maternity leave until October 2004.

Strauber testified that toward the end of August of that year, she asked Kalogrias if she could be absent Sept. 16 and 17, without pay, to celebrate the Jewish new year. She said she had never in her life worked on Rosh Hashanah, even in Romania.

At the same time, another educator Mery Benoualid, who was responsible for children the same age, also asked for the same days off for the same reason.

The tribunal heard that Kalogrias said she would think about it and get back to them.

On Sept. 10, 2004, she informed Strauber and Benoualid that she could not allow both of them off on the same two days, citing difficulty in finding substitutes. She proposed that Strauber and Benoualid take off one of the two days each, of their choosing, or both take Thursday, Sept. 16, only, because she could not find a substitute for Friday.

On Sept. 13, Strauber told Kalogrias that her religion required her to not work on either day and that it was out of the question to be off for only one day.

According to Strauber, Kalogrias replied that her decision was final, and that Benoualid had decided to be absent on Sept. 16 only, adding that if Strauber didn’t show up, she would be suspended for three days without pay.

Strauber said she was surprised and upset by the response and felt like she was being punished like a child, but she suggested the name of a possible substitute or that Kalogrias herself look after the children for one day.

Kalogrias refused to change her mind, so Strauber said she would take off the two days and accept the suspension.

Later the same day, Strauber testified, Kalogrias called her into her office, where Kalogrias’ husband, Chris Didaskalou, was also present.

He said she was being let go because the couple found her behaviour unacceptable,  that her acceptance of the suspension showed she had little interest in her work and that she was causing a disturbance among her co-workers.

Strauber said she was given a letter to sign terminating her employment, but she refused to sign it.

The next day, Strauber called the Commission des norms du travail and Canadian Jewish Congress concerning her rights.

She testified that losing her job was very disturbing to her, especially on the eve of the holidays. She said she felt like she was back in Romania, where she hid her Jewishness, and never thought she’d be in the same situation in Canada.

On Nov. 1, 2004, she found a job in another daycare centre.

Rabbi David Bitton was a witness for Strauber, confirming the importance for Jews to refrain from working on Rosh Hashanah.

Kalogrias gave a different version of events in her testimony. At the time of Strauber’s employment, the daycare had nine educators and one substitute educator for about 80 children, aged 18 months to four years and divided into nine groups.

She said she tried to find a substitute for both days of Rosh Hashanah, but could only find one for the first day and not the second, which was a Friday.

She also said September, the beginning of the year, is a difficult month at a daycare because the children cry more and parents are more anxious. Also, that summer, an educator had resigned and she was short-staffed.

She said she told Strauber she would be suspended for only one day for taking the two holidays off. She described Strauber as aggressive and impolite.

Kalogrias said it was Strauber who quit and gave two weeks notice.

Kalogrias told her to not come back to work because of the “tension” she was causing within the daycare, but said she was paid for the two weeks.

She said she did not give Strauber a letter to sign, but asked her to submit in writing her resignation.