Advisory: This story contains details of sexual assaults.
A woman who was sexually assaulted by her boss and successfully sued him says she hasn’t received a cent of the nearly $1 million he was ordered to pay her in 2021.
The woman was one of five former employees Kyle Christopher Mostowy, 56, was found guilty in 2016 of sexually assaulting after a trial in which he denied any touching without consent.
The five women, who were between 22 and 44 at the time of the assaults, worked as office assistants at Mostowy’s construction company All Canadian Construction Ltd. between May 2010 and September 2011. The women did not work together and their employment periods did not overlap.
Mostowy was also found guilty by a jury this month of sexually assaulting another female employee in 2014. Mostowy had appealed a 2019 conviction on the charge and won a new trial.
The 小蓝视频 Supreme Court justice who found Mostowy guilty in 2016 said he was not a credible witness at trial, calling him evasive and inconsistent.
“He claimed ‘implied consent’ for some of the sexual touching and explicit consent to others. He did acknowledge to some degree creating a sexualized atmosphere in the workplace, often suggesting that he and a given complainant were ‘flirty’ with each other,” Justice Ian Josephson said.
All five women were in dire financial circumstances and highly motivated to perform well in their roles, the judge said, adding Mostowy created a sexualized atmosphere in the workplace by initiating massages that led to touching the women’s breasts and other parts of their bodies. The judge characterized Mostowy’s behaviour as grooming.
When rebuffed, Mostowy made his displeasure known, sometimes with anger and sometimes by suggesting the women weren’t performing their jobs well, causing each of the victims to fear losing her job, Josephson said in giving his guilty verdict.
One of the women, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, sued Mostowy, and in 2021 he was ordered to pay her $981,900.
In an interview with the Times Colonist, the woman said she has not received any money from Mostowy.
Her lawyer’s office confirmed Mostowy has not made any attempt to pay.
Reached by phone at Select Construction Ltd., Mostowy said he doesn’t have any money and declined to comment further.
During the woman’s job interview in 2010, Mostowy said he owned an airplane and a helicopter, and her job would include occasional flights, according to Josephson’s summary of the evidence given at trial.
He was also described as owning a boat.
One woman recounted a helicopter trip that was not for business, while another described four airplane trips with Mostowy while she was employed. During the last flight, he told her to take control of the plane, sending her into a panic, while he grabbed her breasts, Josephson wrote in his decision.
The woman who sued Mostowy was a 44-year-old mother of two who had been on social assistance for more than a year when she was hired. A work-assistance program had paid for her to attend college and was paying half of her wages for one year of work.
Mostowy initiated massages, touched her breasts, begged for oral sex and ejaculated on her, according to the court decision.
She said she knew if she quit, she couldn’t receive employment-insurance benefits, and she worried she would be asked to repay the cost of her college program.
After a couple of weeks of work, the woman called her sister in tears, telling her what Mostowy was doing and that she didn’t think she could continue the job. Her sister encouraged her to go to the police.
She said she struggled to eat and sleep after the assaults, and going for a job interview sent her into a panic attack.
“Sometimes I’m proud of myself to say that I’m not a victim anymore, but unfortunately, I will be the rest of my life,” she said.
Lawyer Michael Mulligan said there are several mechanisms to help people collect money after winning a civil suit, but they all require those who are owed to take action and generally pay a lawyer.
A garnishing order can be obtained through the courts, which can be served to a bank to drain accounts if the person’s bank branch is known. A garnishing order can also be served to clients of the person, who can be ordered to pay any money owed for work directly to the successful plaintiff of a civil suit, Mulligan said.
Options also include obtaining a court order to have assets sold to pay the debt and a process to order the person to attend a hearing to answer questions about their assets and income, he said.
If someone tries to hide their assets by giving them to friends or family to avoid paying, you can apply to have that transfer deemed fraudulent and cancelled, Mulligan said.
However, if a person has no money or assets, a successful plaintiff will get nothing, he said.
The woman who sued Mostowy said she hopes she will be able to collect eventually, but she is frustrated by the fact that she has to continue to fight for what she is owed.
“What was the point of having a judgment? I still have to fight, I still have to pay lawyers, I still have to go back and forth to court,” she said. “What did I win? A piece of paper that says I won a million dollars.”
