“(He) preyed on the applicant’s vulnerability as a newcomer to Canada,” wrote adjudicator Caroline Sand in the recent landmark ruling. “She had newly arrived in Canada, fleeing a lifetime of gender-based violence and discrimination in Iran. The applicant testified to staying at her job despite the respondents’ assaults and advances because she needed the money to support herself.”
But Reza “Ray” Khosravi, owner of Ray Daniel Salon and Spa, insists the allegations are false and vows to appeal.
“I should get another chance to defend myself,” he said.
The woman, who is only identified by initials L.N. ,told a harrowing story.
Forced into an abusive marriage in her native Iran when she was just 13, she was finally allowed to divorce and marry again. When she was 23, her second husband declared their marriage “invalid” and forced her to leave him and their nursing baby. As a single woman living alone, she was sexually harassed by a government employee who tried to enter her home with a knife. She submitted evidence of a court order against her stalker, the ruling said.
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After L.N. came to Canada in March 2019, she read in a local Persian magazine about an opening for an aesthetician at Ray Daniel Salon.
She said Khosravi interviewed her in Farsi and hired her to start on April 3 for $5 an hour, cash. When she later learned about Ontario’s minimum wage, she said her boss told her no one else would employ her because she had no work permit.
During her two months of work, L.N. said Khosravi sexually assaulted her on four occasions, including two incidents of rape.
On April 23, L.N. said her boss asked her to meet him at Yonge and Finch to help pick up supplies. Instead, she said Khosravi raped her in his BMW. Two weeks later, she told the tribunal he did it again after cornering her in the salon laundry room when no one else was there.
Khosravi vehemently denies it all.
“This is all fake allegations against me,” Khosravi , 62, said when reached at his head office. “I am with ladies for so many years in this business – 36 years – and I don’t have any cases before, I never had such a case. This is just about getting money.”
The married father of two believes he hasn’t had a fair opportunity to plead his side.
According to a tribunal decision, Khosravi never responded to a May 2023 email to advise whether he planned to participate in the proceedings. When he didn’t reply, he was considered to have waived his right to be notified about upcoming dates. When he later found out, his appeal was denied.
“I missed one email and we didn’t know when to show up,” Khosravi complained.
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So the hearing went ahead with just L.N. and her witnesses.
A friend testified L.N. told her about being raped but that she was too afraid to go to the police because she had no status. Her psychologist in Iran also told the tribunal that she’d disclosed what allegedly happened – though not until much later.
L.N. told the tribunal that Khosravi threatened to get her deported if she reported him. She also claimed he threatened to kill her – something she only recalled after he sued her last August for $35,000 for allegedly damaging his reputation.
After finding L.N. “honest and credible” and her witnesses believable, the adjudicator awarded her $180,000 for “egregious sexual harassment and solicitation, and a deeply damaging affront to the applicant’s dignity.
“The evidence to this effect was clear and compelling,” Sand wrote. “(Khosravi) took advantage of the applicant, with severe underpayment, escalating sexual harassment, egregious sexual assault, and threats of reprisal.”
But this “evidence” came unchallenged with Khosravi not even there.
In a court of law, these reputation-crushing allegations would be put to the test. Shouldn’t they be at the HRTO as well?
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