A court has ruled that a Saskatoon hotel owner sexually harassed one of his female employees.
Northwoods Inn and Suites owner John Pontes has a history of human rights violations.
He has been ordered to pay $44,900 for gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment and lost earnings.
This figure includes the maximum penalty allowed for injuries to feelings, dignity and self-respect as well as $3,000 for abusive conduct in the court proceedings.
The province’s human rights tribunal also previously ruled that Pontes engaged in racial discrimination when he tossed an Aboriginal man out of the hotel’s restaurant in 2006 – a ruling that was upheld on appeal.
In a separate case, a judge upheld the tribunal’s ruling that he sexually discriminated against a 19-year-old woman who applied for a job in 2007.