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Two workplace-related sentences

At the regular April 18 sitting of the Estevan provincial court, Miriam Manzano was given a conditional discharge, placed under probation for a period of one year and ordered to do 50 hours of community service, after pleading guilty to theft under $
EPS

At the regular April 18 sitting of the Estevan provincial court, Miriam Manzano was given a conditional discharge, placed under probation for a period of one year and ordered to do 50 hours of community service, after pleading guilty to theft under $5,000 from an employer.

Senior Crown prosecutor Mitchell Miller told the court that Menzano was charged after management of her former workplace reviewed surveillance footage depicting her removing money from the cash register at which she worked, in a period between October and January of 2016. He noted that the theft was made more serious because it was a breach of trust against her employer at the time. 

The Crown and Menzano’s lawyer made a joint submission recommending the conditional discharge, and probation, along with the stipulation that she pay back the $80 she took, in restitution. 

Menzano’s lawyer noted that her client was 34, married and a mother, trying to support her children who live in the Philippines. She said the amount stolen was minimal, compared to many other cases of theft that come before the court. 

Menzano’s lawyer also said her client has been employed for the past year and a half, and as a result of the economic downturn, suffered financial difficulties including a decrease in the number of working hours she was assigned, and a drop in the amount of tip money she was able to make on the job.

Because the charge against Menzano, she was terminated from her job and cannot procure another job until the matter of the charge against her was settled. Menzano’s lawyer noted such conditions could lead to the loss of Menzano’s work permit.

Judge Lane Wiegers said that a breach of an employer’s trust is a serious offence, but that the early guilty plea, lack of a prior criminal record and small amount of money stolen were all factors in his passing of a conditional discharge. 

Brian Cowie, owner of Southeast Ventures, operating as itcomputes in Carnduff, was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and a $600 victim fine surcharge for an offence under the Saskatchewan Employment Act. The fine against Cowie was ordered as an occupational safety and health matter, relating to the failure of his business to prevent an environment in which workers were not exposed to harassment.

The fines stem from an incident for which Cowie was convicted of seven counts of voyeurism on March 17, 2015, when an employee discovered a camera in a washroom in his business in Dec., 2014. It was determined he placed the camera there, and had been filming female employees in the washroom over a period of several years.

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