Paying Students Less than Other Employees Is Social Status Discrimination

A university unilaterally adopted a new policy to pay students employees 85% of the wages it paid other employees for equivalent work. Students have less training and work less than regular employees, it reasoned. The student union claimed social status discrimination under the Charter. The Québec Human Rights Tribunal upheld the complaint and ordered the university to pay the students not just the wage differential but also moral damages. And now the province’s highest court has affirmed that decision [Aluminerie de Bécancour Inc. v. Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (Beaudry et al.), 2021 QCCA 989, June 16, 2021].