Man rejected from babysitting jobs files human rights complaints against parents
EDMONTON — A legal group wants complaints from a man who says parents discriminated against him when they didn’t hire him as a babysitter thrown out.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms wrote to the Alberta Human Rights Commission this month on behalf of two parents it is representing.
“We believe that there’s no human right to babysit another person’s children and that the anxiety that these kind of cases are causing to parents is something that should and can be avoided,” staff lawyer Marty Moore said in an interview Thursday.
In a letter to the commission dated Wednesday, the justice centre describes how a mother of three posted an ad on Kijiji in February for an early-morning babysitter. The letter redacts the mother’s surname to protect her privacy and refers to her only as Danielle.
One potential candidate, James Cyrynowski of Edmonton, sent Danielle a text outlining his experience and credentials, which included an early child development certificate, a criminal record check and nine years of experience caring for kids. She asked him whether he had any children and he replied “not yet.”
Danielle chose a different babysitter who lived nearby. In April, Cyrynowski complained to the human rights commission that he had been discriminated against because of his family status.
“I applied for a caregiver job on Kijiji. I was asked if I have children. I do not. I did not get the job,” Cyrynowski said in his handwritten complaint, a link to which the justice centre included in its news release.
Attempts to contact Cyrynowski were not immediately successful.
The human rights commission accepted the complaint in June, the justice centre said.
The justice centre also wrote a letter to the human rights commission dated Aug. 19 on behalf of a single father.
Todd, whom the justice centre is only identifying by his first name, posted a Kijiji ad in August 2017 looking for someone to watch his kids while he was out with friends.
Cyrynowski responded to the ad and Todd asked him his age, location and gender. Cyrynowski answered the questions.
Todd’s dinner plans fell through and he no longer needed a babysitter, the justice centre said. The next day, Cyrynowski complained to the human rights commission that Todd discriminated against him based on age and gender.