Human rights complaint filed over Best Buy's mask policy dismissed by B.C. tribunal

Mask sign seen outside a B.C. store during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Shutterstock)

A human rights complaint filed against Best Buy over its COVID-19 mask policy has been dismissed by a B.C. tribunal.

The complainant, John Ratchford, claimed he was discriminated against based on a physical disability when he was told he couldn't shop inside the store without wearing a mask.

The decision, posted by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal late last week, says the incident happened in October 2020. While B.C. hadn't mandated masks in public spaces yet, the province was in a state of emergency because of COVID-19 and Best Buy had implemented its own policy of requiring masks for in-store shopping. Employees were also required to wear a mask.

According to the decision, Ratchford told the tribunal he has asthma and couldn't wear a mask.

The tribunal heard that when Ratchford told an employee this, staff at the store offered to bring products to the door for him to look at. But Ratchford told the staff he has another disability that would make standing at the door painful. He didn't say what that disability was and left the store without finishing his shopping.

"I appreciate that it must have been frustrating for Mr. Ratchford to not be able to enter the store to shop in the manner he expected to," tribunal member Emily Ohler wrote in her decision.

"However, Best Buy was not obligated to provide a perfect accommodation, but a reasonable one … and Mr. Ratchford was obligated to participate in the accommodation process, accepting solutions that were reasonable."

Ohler said Ratchford even acknowledged these accommodations in his complaint.

"While he says that standing to wait for this to happen would have caused him pain, he does not say that he brought this to the attention of Best Buy or otherwise engaged in a discussion of alternatives," Ohler wrote.

Ohler has handled several other complaints against stores regarding their mask policies.

Earlier this month, a complaint against Loblaws was dismissed. Ohler said in her decision on that incident that the complainant didn't give enough information to explain how he experienced an adverse impact because of the mask policy. 

And, in November, a complaint against Lululemon Athletica was dismissed, with Ohler saying employees at the store offered a shopper who refused to wear a mask other options for buying her merchandise. 

A similar human rights complaint decision was published the week before that, after a person at a pet food store was denied entry for not wearing a mask. In that situation, Ohler also determined the shopper was offered adequate accommodation.

In the recent Best Buy decision, the company said in addition to offering to bring products to Ratchford at the door, online shopping is also available.