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Human rights complaint denied for Richmond woman who refused to wear mask

Apple store employees say woman didn't listen to accommodation alternatives.
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B.C.'s Human Rights Tribunal won't hear a complaint from a woman who claimed she was discriminated against in Richmond.

A human rights complaint by a woman, who claimed she was refused service at an Apple Canada store in Richmond because she wouldn’t wear a mask, has been tossed out at the Human Rights Tribunal.

Valerie Ann Foley claimed she was discriminated against in June 2021 based on having a disability after staff at the Apple store asked her to wear a mask while having her phone looked at.

Apple had a mask policy due to the COVID-19 pandemic but they also had accommodations in place for those couldn’t wear masks.

Foley had made an appointment on June 2, 2021 at the Apple store, but when she arrived, she was told she couldn’t enter without a mask.

However, staff said “she walked away from the store before she could be offered any alternative service options,” the decision reads.

According to the Human Rights Tribunal decision, Foley said, at her second appointment on June 4, 2021, she was “taunted and humiliated for having a disability.”

On this second visit, the tribunal decision reads, according to Apple staff, they told Foley “how she could be accommodated, and Ms. Foley became irate.”

The complaint was dismissed before going to a hearing.

In its dismissal decision, the tribunal noted the complaint has “no reasonable prospect of success because Ms. Foley ‘thwarted the accommodation process’ when she failed to cooperate with the accommodation process.”


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