Politics and Money

[Elroy Jetson]

Waiter, Guillaume Rey, has filed a discrimination complaint against Vancouver Milestones restaurant after his firing. The restaurant manager says the French server was “combative and aggressive” toward his co-workers.

Rey says this complaint is a form of “discrimination against my French culture.” “I was fired because of my direct, honest and professional personality,” which I learned in the French "hospitality" industry.

The founder of B.C. Talents, an organization that helps French workers integrate into the British Columbia workforce, told CBS News that cultural difference are common. “The culture in Canada, it’s a non-conflict culture, particularly in the professional area,” said Julien Mainguy. “Most of the French-speaking people from Europe, they tend to be very direct.”

If French workers want to advance in their careers, he said, they must try to adapt to Canada’s workplace culture. “They have to understand how they get perceived by the Canadian people and not just do what they used to do in France or in Europe,” he said.



Rey worked as a server at the restaurant from October 2015 to August 2016, and was often the “shift lead,” meaning his duties sometimes involved supervising other servers. The restaurant’s managers had on several occasions talked to Rey about how he treated his co-workers — and mentioned to him that staff members might think he was acting “aggressive” because of his “culture,” according to Rey’s complaint.

Rey was ultimately fired after a confrontation on Aug. 14, 2017 when Rey asked one of the servers to complete a task for him. Instead of doing so, the server complained about Rey to the manager, according to Rey’s complaint.

Rey believes the server’s refusal to complete the task was disrespectful and inconsiderate to the other servers. The server came into the manager’s office, near tears, and said he refused to work with Rey any longer.

Rey went to the manager’s office, knocked on the door, and — when the manager opened the door — found the server inside. Rey then “pushed his way into the office demanding that the server complete his duties,” until the manager asked him to leave.”

Rey was fired after the incident, in part because he was “aggressive, rude and disrespectful” to the manager and server, according to the complaint. During his firing, Rey told the general manager that he believed he was being terminated because of his French culture.