A mother of two claims her employers fired her just a few days after she disclosed her breast cancer diagnosis to them, the Toronto Sun reported.
On Jan. 30, Elsa Torrejon, who is originally from Lima, Peru, told her bosses Geri and Doug McDonald that she needed a mastectomy.
Torrejon said the owners of Weston Property Management “extended their sympathies,” but said they needed her plans in writing. Torrejon wrote them a letter, telling them she would work until the surgery, which was scheduled for Feb. 12.
However, on Jan. 31, Torrejon decided to seek a second opinion at another hospital, and on Feb. 4, she wrote her employers another letter saying she would work until she had a new surgery date.
In reply, Doug McDonald wrote Torrejon a letter saying her last day with the company would be Feb. 12 because he had checked with Canada’s ministry of labor and “once an employee resigns in writing, it can’t be withdrawn.”
The Human Rights Legal Support Center wrote a letter on Torrejon’s behalf to the McDonald’s, which stated Torrejon has a medical condition and employers must accommodate an employee with a disability, but the McDonald’s refused to accept it.
“I have nothing else to say,” Geri McDonald told the Sun when asked about Torrejon’s case.
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