A former municipal employee who worked at the Prince George RCMP detachment and took the stand during the trial into whether Coun. Brian Skakun breached provincial privacy legislation has launched a wrongful dismissal suit against the city.
In a notice of civil claim, Sheri McLean-Smith alleges city administrators conspired in June 2008 to retaliate against her for reporting the misconduct of then-Prince George RCMP Supt. Dahl Chambers and Ann Bailey, the manager of civilian employees at the detachment.
According to the claim, the intent was to injure McLean-Smith's economic interests and destroy her career with the city to get revenge for her actions as a whistleblower.
Starting in January 2006, McLean-Smith was a confidential assistant at the detachment.
Over the course of the year, she witnessed harassment and mistreatment of city employees by Chambers and Bailey and negligence by city administrative services director Rob Whitwham in respect to their conduct, according to the notice.
In November 2006, McLean-Smith filed a complaint with the city regarding the three and in September 2007 also filed one with the RCMP regarding Chambers. McLean-Smith alleges she became ill as a result of their ongoing conduct and by the end of October 2007 was no long able to work.
McLean-Smith also alleges a report from an independent investigator indicated problems did exist in the workplace but the city ignored the recommendations and instead made a deliberate decision to ignore the actions of Chambers, Bailey and Whitwham and to end her employment.
In negotiating her return to work in summer 2008, McLean-Smith alleges administration gave her three options knowing only one was feasible given the circumstances and, in fact, had no intention of allowing her to return to work. Details of the three options were not provided in the notice.
In June 2008, McLean-Smith left her job, concluding administration's conduct amounted to a wrongful dismissal without notice. McLean-Smith alleges she continues to suffer loss of income and reputation as a result of the city's actions.
In a response, the city denies McLean-Smith's allegations and noted she was assured she would not have any contact with Chambers if she returned to work. However, McLean-Smith never did return and there was no other suitable vacant position within the city at the time, the city alleges.
The city also further contends her refusal to return was unreasonable given the assurance she would not have to work directly with Chambers and that all her complaints of harassment had been rejected by the independent investigator.
The city also emphasized it had no authority to investigate the conduct of an RCMP officer because the force works in the city under a contract. The RCMP eventually ordered Chambers to apologize for his conduct.
Chambers and Bailey, who entered into a romantic relationship, have since moved away from Prince George, as has McLean-Smith. Skakun is in the process of appealing a provincial court judge's decision to fine him for breaching privacy legislation by turning over confidential information regarding the detachment's working environment to a local media outlet which, in turn, posted it online for a brief period in August 2008.
McLean-Smith's complaint has not yet gone before a judge and the allegations have not yet been proven in court.
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