B.C. education assistant fired for OnlyFans: Newstalk 1010 Interview

Interview Summary

A B.C education assistant was recently terminated as a result of their OnlyFans profile and online presence. Kristin MacDonald’s account was discovered by colleagues and the Coquitlam school board requested she shut down her account. After refusing to do so, MacDonald was terminated.

A Vancouver employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP discussed MacDonald’s human rights claim with Jim Richards on Newstalk 1010.

Interview Notes

• Employee’s rights to privacy and online content: Employees should be wary of the content they post online as many would assume it is no longer private. In MacDonald’s case, an argument could be made that the content she posted online was not connected at all to her work environment or position. Regardless of whether or not MacDonald’s account was private, it did not influence her regular work hours or job responsibilities.
• Employer’s reputation affected by employee actions: Employees should be wary of exhibiting misconduct while at the workplace or visibly representing their employers, such as while driving a company vehicle, or wearing their employer’s equipment in public. Employers in a non-unionized context are generally able to terminate an employee without cause for any reason. In most cases, a termination for cause is not justifiable.
• Discriminatory reasons for termination: As MacDonald is a unionized employee, her union representatives will determine if her termination was permissible. Aside from the employment context, there is an argument that MacDonald’s termination was discriminatory on the basis of sex.