It fortunately seems to have faded as a practice. In recent times however there have been several incidents of young men running up and yelling crude remarks, generally “F…her right in the p…” into the microphones of female reporters doing live TV reports.
In an incident in May in Toronto, a female reporter turned on the vulgar “pranksters” while still broadcasting live, and challenged them about the act asking if they really thought it was appropriate.
The event made world news and strong negative reaction to the pranksters and the act, especially the response by one of the men.
Although not the initial instigator, one man responded to the reporter in an equally vulgar manner saying he thought the act was “ f…. hilarious,….f……amazing, and I respect it.”
He was quickly identified as Shawn Simoes. It turns out he was an engineer working with Ontario Hydro, a publicly owned electrical power company, and was earning over $106,000.
The company promptly fired him saying he violated the company’s code of conduct
At the time, former Hydro One CEO Carmine Marcello’s said Simoes “clearly went too far”. In an interview with the National Post newspaper Marcello said, “The fact remains the behaviour was reprehensible. This was not a grey line. He clearly went too far.”
Now it turns out he has been quietly rehired as the assistant network management officer.
Ontario Hydro spokesman Daffyd Roderick is quoted in the National Post this week saying, “This matter was resolved through the arbitration process. We will not comment any further on the matter.”
The implication is that Simoes union fought to get his job back.
Simoes has sent a letter of apology to reporter Shauna Hunt in what labour lawyer Howard Levitt told the Toronto Sun newspaper was “strategic”
Levitt pointed out that remorse, or lack of it, is often a deciding factor in whether an arbitrator will decide if an employee will be re-instated.
At the time, the firing resulted in clearly divided opinions on social media, with one side applauding the firing, while the other side said that people should not be liable for punishment from the employer for what they do on their own time.
Tracey Henry, a lawyer with Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish, who acted for Simoes union, the Society of Energy Professionals, says the arbritation was fair.
Reported in the Huffington Post newspaper Henry says the union received almost 40 emails from male and female co-workers supporting Simoes, and none against.
Howard Levitt is quoted in the National Post saying “It’s time to be sure that you have your code of ethics clearly ensconced in your employees’ minds. You need to be clear that brand-damaging conduct will result in (employees) being fired because you can’t rely on this case.”
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