Alberta geneticist's $2.6M wrongful dismissal lawsuit against AHS and subsidiary thrown out
CBC
An applications judge with the Edmonton Court of King's Bench has granted a request from Alberta Health Services and subsidiary Alberta Precision Laboratories that a geneticist's wrongful dismissal lawsuit be thrown out.
In an oral decision Thursday, Applications Judge Lucille Birkett said Stacey Hume was an employee of the University of Alberta, not an employee or dependant contractor of AHS or APL.
"I find that there is no merit to the claim against AHS and APL," she said.
Stacey Hume filed a lawsuit against AHS and APL in 2022, alleging she was fired because she reported bullying and harassing behaviour at the lab where she had worked for more than a decade.
She alleged that she learned patient reports were altered by a senior staff member in order to embarrass a junior colleague and that she was bullied and targeted for speaking out about bullying and harassment.
Hume worked as a professor in the U of A's medical genetics department and served as joint head for a lab on the university's campus. According to her contract, her job was contingent on funding from AHS and 75 per cent of her work was clinical.
In 2021, after Hume had reported her concerns, AHS advised the university it would stop funding her position. Hume received a year's notice from the U of A, which she was entitled to under a collective agreement.
AHS's lawyer, Sarah Nykolaishen, said Hume signed an employment contract with U of A only, and that there was no indication she was being hired by two organizations.
"It's one job offered by one institution," she said in an Edmonton courtroom on Wednesday.
She said when Hume was being hired, she was offered the choice of being a Capital Health (now AHS) employee or being appointed to the university with academic and clinical duties — and she consciously chose the academic path.
AHS claimed it stopped funding Hume's position "as part of a broader business strategy," hiring its own in-house geneticists to improve contract efficiencies and increase oversight of clinical services.
Hume's lawyer, Kathryn Marshall of Levitt Sheikh, said in court on Thursday that Hume was an AHS employee because she had a leadership role overseeing AHS employees, she had AHS business cards, an AHS email address, ID card and laptop, was promoted and demoted by AHS, had her performance reviewed by AHS, spoke to the media on behalf of AHS and completed its mandatory training.
"Contracts matter but they don't tell the whole story," she said.
Marshall said Hume also received a 15-year milestone certificate from the defendants that referred to her as a leader and staff member.