A B.C. daycare was ordered to pay $4,500 to a family whose kids were expelled after a dispute over notification about a sick child. Read More
Tensions between the daycare and parents arose after one of the kids came down with a suspected case of hand, foot and mouth disease
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A B.C. daycare was ordered to pay $4,500 to a family whose kids were expelled after a dispute over notification of a sick child.
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The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal found the daycare had discriminated against the two children on the basis of family status and that the kids were expelled “only because of the dispute between the daycare and the parents.”
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According to the decision issued earlier this month, the family had two children in daycare: A daughter who started attending in 2016 and a son who joined the centre in March 2019.
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Tensions arose in late 2019 when the son came down with a low-grade fever and a cough on the morning of Dec. 11. At the time, the mother was away on a work trip and the grandmother was at home, helping the father with the kids.
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The grandmother kept the son at home that day and the next two days, even though he was better.
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She told the son’s teacher he wasn’t feeling well and had a mild cough. The boy developed a rash on his buttocks, which the daughter mentioned to the teacher as “red dots on his body.” When asked about it the next day, the dad told the former manager the son had sensitive skin and eczema, which could present as red dots.
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When the mother, who had experience in a medical profession, returned home two days on Friday, she suspected the boy may have hand, foot and mouth disease, a common viral illness in kids that easily spreads in daycares and schools. She informed the school early Monday.
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The daycare then sent an email to the mother insinuating the grandmother and father downplayed the son’s symptoms, said the decision. The mother testified she felt “taken aback” and “attacked” by the email and in a subsequent conversation with the former manager.
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She dropped the son off at the daycare on Tuesday with a doctor’s note that said he was well and not contagious, and kept the daughter home as a precaution.
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Later that day, the daycare sent an email to parents informing them of the outbreak and closure of the son’s classroom until Jan. 2.
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The next day the mother messaged the former manager over concerns the daycare told another family her son was the source of the outbreak. She received a response the next day apologizing that the daycare’s service caused offence, and said the former director will contact her to address her concerns.
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That evening, the former director emailed the parents a letter, saying the daycare was withdrawing their two children with two months’ notice because “we cannot meet your peronal [sic] standard.”
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The decision came as a shock to the family, which tried twice to meet with the director, but did not hear back. The family attempted to get in touch with the daycare again through a lawyer, but did not get a response.