The $250k fine and jail terms were too severe, the judge said
An appeal judge in Ontario has decided a $250,000 fine against a small business and 25-day jail terms for two of its directors were too severe a punishment for the death of an employee who fell 12 feet while trying to retrieve merchandise from the warehouse.
The judge lowered the initial fine to $50,000 on the company and $15,000 on each of the two directors, for a total of $80,000. The jail terms were set aside.
At that time of the employee’s death, the company was a small business with a few employees.
The employee did not receive any safety training and was not wearing any safety equipment.
The company and its two directors were charged under the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that related to training and fall protection.
Both directors pled guilty to two charges.
The Justice of the Peace imposed a fine of $250,000, not on the individual directors –because this “would only cause more financial hardship” – but on the company itself. The directors were each given jail time.
But the appellate judge said the $250,000 fine was "significantly out of the range of sentences regularly imposed by the courts for these types of offences and for these types of offenders".
The fine was "demonstrably unfit," the appeal judge said.
Similarly, the Justice of the Peace was wrong when she reasoned that jail terms were appropriate for the directors because a fine would cause more financial hardship, the appeal judge said. The case law showed that jail terms were more appropriate for defendants with prior safety convictions for whom fines had not had a deterrent effect.