Sutton Eaves,
The Ottawa Citizen
A federal employee who has been the victim of racial discrimination says he is once again being mistreated by his employers.
Chander Grover, 62, has been locked out of his office since early June, suspended from his job as a director at the National Research Council in a "no work, no pay" action taken by his employers.
It is the latest in a 17-year battle between the East Indian research scientist and his bosses at the council, which saw the Crown agency denounced for "flagrant and calculated" discrimination by a Human Rights Tribunal in 1992.
At the tribunal's order, Dr. Grover was promoted to director of radiation standards and optics, a position that has come under threat since the dispute was rekindled this summer.
Since February, Dr. Grover has been on part-time sick leave from his job, coming to the office three days a week. His long weekends were spent working from home and tending to heart problems that he said were brought on by stress.
But after accepting two doctor's certificates from separate physicians, Dr. Grover's boss rejected a third request for sick leave at the beginning of June.
In a letter sent June 10, Dr. Grover's supervisor demanded he be examined by "NRC's chosen physician to determine both the validity of your current medical situation as well as your medical capacity to resume your duties and responsibilities."
In a further letter, Dr. Grover was told not to return to the office until he had been examined. Failure to do so would result in a "no work, no pay" situation that has proven to be a sincere threat. While the council booked several appointments for Dr. Grover with the agency's health care provider, the scientist remains barred from company property as long as he refuses to attend.
The council reserves the right to ask an employee to see a doctor if there is a chance he or she is too unhealthy to work, as outlined in their occupational health policy.
"The consent is the most essential part of the medical evaluation," said Dr. Grover.
"Rather than asking my consent, they said if I don't go there, they will discipline me for that."
The research council declined to comment on Dr. Grover's case yesterday, but its policy states clearly it is his responsibility to "attend pre-scheduled appointments for medical examinations."
The mandate, said Dr. Grover's lawyer, is a violation of his client's right to choose who examines him medically.
"It's one thing if the policy simply says they reserve the right to ask an employee to see a physician, but interpreting that to mean that you will only go to the physician that we choose is another," said David Yazbeck. Dr. Grover said the lockout is another tactic in the council's strategy to get him to resign for good.
The research scientist has been a bee in the bonnet of his employers since he filed his original complaint of racial discrimination in 1987.
In the years following, his case was heard twice by a human rights tribunal, which condemned the council on both occasions.
In 2002, Dr. Grover filed a suit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against the council, claiming his constitutional rights were violated because of his ethnic origin.
Yesterday, Dr. Grover sent a letter to his employer, agreeing to see a doctor chosen by both himself and the council.
"At this stage, if they are adamant in asking me for a medical check up, I will accept the request to go to an independent medical practitioner," said Dr. Grover, who remains at home until the conflict is resolved.