Labour board upholds firing of federal fraud investigator

‘Quota system’ for EI rejection details leaked

The federal labour relations board has upheld the firing of a government fraud investigator who leaked details of a “quota system” for rejecting employment insurance claims.

The board ruled that civil servant Sylvie Therrien was not an official whistleblower because the information she leaked did not disclose an illegal act or a policy that jeopardized life, health or public safety.

In 2013, Therrien sent to a Montreal newspaper documents revealing that government fraud investigators had been told to reject $485,000 worth of EI claims a year.

An unnamed source for the story, Therrien told Le Devoir that fraud investigators were under intense pressure to meet monthly targets and that their job performances were measured by how much money they saved.

The story caused an uproar in the House of Commons as opposition parties accused the Conservative government of the day of conducting a witch hunt against unemployed Canadians.

The government said fraud investigators had performance objectives, not binding quotas.

Therrien was suspended in May 2013 after a preliminary investigation found she was the source of the leak. She initially denied involvement, but investigators found she had sent internal Service Canada documents, including a “savings report card,” to a personal email account.

During a second investigation, Therrien admitted sending the material to a journalist. She insisted her actions had not been politically motivated, but part of a “one-time act of whistleblowing.”

“I am accountable to Parliament and the Canadian people as a condition of my employment,” Therrien said. “I acted in good faith and in a non-partisan manner and I did not profit in any way from my actions. I did so as a matter of conscience.”

In October 2013, Therrien’s reliability status — a security clearance required for many government positions — was revoked. It meant she could no longer do her job and she was fired by Employment and Social Development Canada.

Therrien, who worked in a Vancouver office, grieved those decisions, arguing she had exposed government wrongdoing and should be protected as a whistleblower.

In a decision released Friday, the federal labour relations board upheld Therrien’s dismissal. Adjudicator Steven Katkin said Therrien owed a duty of loyalty to her employer that could only be breached in exceptional circumstances.

Those circumstance have been defined by the Supreme Court, which has said whistleblower status should only be extended to civil servants who expose illegality or policies that jeopardize life, health or public safety.

The Federal Court of Appeal has interpreted the top court’s decision to mean that civil servants cannot cloak themselves in whistleblower protection simply by raising issues of legitimate public interest. Civil servants, it said, remain encumbered by a duty of loyalty and cannot “voice all of their concerns or disagreements with government policies and departmental activities.”

Katkin noted that Therrien continues to hold to her belief that the public interest in the material she leaked took precedent over her duty of loyalty.

“While she was certainly entitled to her opinion on the nature of her duties and government policy,” he said, “in my view, this supports the employer’s assessment of the serious risk with respect to her untrustworthiness with government information.”

Katkin concluded that the “bond of trust” between Therrien and the government had been irrevocably severed.