The shadowy corner of a downtown London, Ontario bar once kept a disturbing secret. A young woman had been assaulted by her supervisor – but what followed revealed deeper failures within the establishment’s walls.
Last week, El Furniture Warehouse restaurant in London faced a $55,000 fine after pleading guilty to failing to protect an employee from workplace violence. The court’s decision came after I spent months reviewing workplace inspection reports, court filings, and interviewing former employees about the establishment’s troubling history.
“This wasn’t just about one isolated incident,” explained Heather Stewart, a workplace rights attorney I consulted during my investigation. “The company lacked basic safeguards to prevent violence and had no meaningful procedures for employees to report misconduct.”
The case unfolded in November 2022 when a female employee was physically assaulted by her supervisor in an isolated area of the restaurant. According to provincial court records I obtained, the worker reported the incident immediately to management, but no investigation was conducted. The supervisor continued working alongside her for weeks afterward.
Only after the victim filed a police report did the Ministry of Labour launch an investigation. Their findings, detailed in a 37-page report, revealed the restaurant had no workplace violence policy, no training program, and no system for employees to report threatening behavior.
“When employers fail to implement violence prevention policies, they’re creating environments where abuse can flourish,” said Marcus Wong, director of the Workers’ Safety Coalition. “The $55,000 penalty reflects the seriousness of these omissions.”
The provincial court judge noted that El Furniture Warehouse’s failure to act after receiving the initial complaint significantly aggravated the case. The restaurant chain, which operates locations across Canada, has remained silent about the conviction. Multiple requests for comment went unanswered during my reporting.
I spoke with three former employees who described a workplace culture where boundaries were routinely blurred. “There was this unwritten rule that you just handle things yourself,” said one former server who requested anonymity due to fear of industry backlash. “Nobody knew how to report problems or if they’d be taken seriously.”
Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act requires employers to develop workplace violence policies, implement programs to assess and control risks, and train employees accordingly. The Ministry of Labour conducted 1,273 workplace violence investigations in 2023, resulting in 89 prosecutions – a 12% increase from the previous year.
“Many employers still treat workplace violence as an interpersonal issue rather than a systemic safety concern,” explained Dr. Anita Ramnath, who researches workplace safety at Western University. “This case highlights how institutional failures create conditions for individual incidents to occur.”
The conviction sends a message to Ontario’s hospitality industry, where violence complaints have risen steadily over the past five years. Ministry data I analyzed shows restaurants and bars account for nearly 22% of workplace violence investigations despite representing only 7% of the provincial workforce.
For the victim, whose identity remains protected by a publication ban, the conviction offers limited closure. Her victim impact statement, which I reviewed in court documents, describes ongoing anxiety, career disruption, and financial hardship following the assault.
“I trusted my workplace to keep me safe,” she wrote. “Instead, they protected my abuser and forced me to fight a system that should have been designed to protect me.”
The restaurant must pay the $55,000 fine plus a 25% victim surcharge within 12 months. They’ve also been ordered to implement comprehensive workplace violence policies and training programs under ministry supervision.
This case represents more than just an isolated fine. It exposes how workplace safety regulations, despite existing for decades, still fail vulnerable workers when employers prioritize operational convenience over protection. For every case that reaches prosecution, experts estimate dozens go unreported.
As I left the courthouse after the sentencing, I noticed construction on El Furniture Warehouse’s patio – business continuing as usual despite the conviction. The contrast was striking: a restaurant preparing for summer crowds while being penalized for fundamental safety failures.
The question now facing Ontario’s hospitality industry isn’t whether they can afford to implement proper safety protocols, but whether they can afford not to. With increasing scrutiny and higher penalties, the cost of neglect continues to rise – measured not just in dollars, but in the wellbeing of the workers who keep these establishments running.
