UNBC EXECUTIVE FILES WRONGFUL DISMISSAL LAWSUIT

A former UNBC employee says she was wrongfully dismissed from her position because she blew the whistle on alleged improper conduct by the university’s upper management.

Specifically, in a notice of claim filed at the Prince George courthouse Oct. 14, Heather Sanford is accusing acting president Geoffrey Payne and board of governors chair Lee Ongman of undermining her efforts to ensure the board’s business was being conducted transparently.

For roughly four-and-a-half years ending in March, Sanford held down the job of university secretary.

Noting she is a non-practicing member of the Nova Scotia bar in good standing, Sanford says she was responsible for “ensuring the effective and efficient operation of UNBC’s administrative and academic governing bodies” including the board of governors and senate. Those duties included coordinating meetings and maintaining records and providing advice on governance issues and best practices.

Sanford says the trouble began in mid-December 2019 when, at the request of human resources director Kerry Roberts, Ongman approved without the board’s endorsement a two-per-cent increase to the salary paid to UNBC’s then-president Daniel Weeks, retroactive to July 2019.

Further, Sanford says Ongman signed a performance review to support the increase without any actual review having been completed by Ongman or the board and issued the approval on the letterhead of Sanford’s office, both without her knowledge and consent.

When she became aware of the action, Sanford says she immediately raised concerns with Ongman and Roberts and was told Ongman took the step when Roberts said it was the usual process. Ongman then indicated she felt she had been duped, according to Sanford.

Saying her work environment had become toxic, Sanford went on stress leave on March 1 and, while she was away, she says Payne and Ongman amended the agenda for that month’s board meeting, deleting an item regarding board rules and adding one about the external review.

When Sanford returned on March 10, she says she wrote to Ongman and Payne saying she felt she was being undermined and that her core work was being removed in retaliation over her effort to ensure transparency surrounding the board’s business.

The next day, Sanford says she was directed to meet with Payne and Roberts on March 13. And on that day, Payne told Sanford her position was being eliminated for budgetary reasons and that “it was ‘in no way a termination.’”

But Sanford says otherwise, claiming she was “unduly and unfairly bullied and harassed” by Payne and Ongman because she had “blown the whistle on their conduct and that of Weeks, Daigle and Roberts, seeking to expose and remedy their breaches of Board Rules policy and practice.”

UNBC spokesman Matt Wood declined to comment because it is a legal and human resources issue. UNBC has not yet filed a response and none of the allegations have yet been tested in court.