'Poisoned work environment': Staffer alleges sexual harassment, intoxication in suit against Kenney's office
CBC
A former Alberta legislature staff member is suing the premier's office, saying she suffered from a toxic workplace culture and was fired as retribution for speaking out about the problems she saw there.
The allegations in Ariella Kimmel's lawsuit include sexual harassment and heavy drinking by ministers and staff in legislature offices, as well as claims that senior staff in the premier's office fabricated rumours about her contributing to her termination.
CBC News has obtained a copy of the legal document. None of the allegations has been proven in court.
Kimmel worked as the chief of staff to the minister of jobs, economy and innovation from August 2020 until she was fired in February 2021. She had worked with Jason Kenney's UCP government since May 2019.
Kenney's office is the overseeing office responsible for ministries.
The statement of claim says in mid-October 2020, Kimmel found Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen drinking with a chief of staff in his office. They later met up in another minister's office, where the ministers and staff in attendance appeared to be heavily intoxicated, Kimmel said.
Her statement said that during the gathering, she expressed concern about how drunk Dreeshen was and encouraged him to stop drinking.
After they left the suite, the lawsuit alleges, the minister confronted her about the intervention and "aggressively yelled at her to the point where she was in tears and a concerned bystander intervened."
Prior to her appointment as chief of staff that year, Kimmel had been in an on-and-off relationship with Dreeshen.
Two days later, another group of staff met for drinks in the minister of health's office. That night, Ivan Bernardo, the minister's principal advisor, is alleged to have made a sexually inappropriate comment to one of Kimmel's female staff members.
"I haven't seen you on this floor before because with a body like that, I would have noticed you," the statement of claim alleges Bernardo said.
The statement also alleges Bernardo was known to have been sexually inappropriate with other women in the building.
The next day, Kimmel reported the exchange to Chris Thresher, the chief of staff in health, and Matt Wolf, the premier's director of issues management.
She heard nothing for almost a month.
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