Legislature staff complaints rising by the day
‘Throng’ of current and ex-employees saying they were mistreated includes political aides, Plecas says
The number of former and current legislature employees complaining about alleged mistreatment grows almost daily and the tally now also includes political staffers, says Speaker Darryl Plecas.
Two weeks ago, Plecas’s chief of staff Alan Mullen said about 20 people who worked for the B.C. legislature — in areas such as the financial services branch, the library and the dining room — complained they were fired after raising concerns about witnessing alleged financial wrongdoing.
In a wide-ranging interview with Postmedia News, Plecas said that number gets larger every day and includes current employees.
“Alan, it’s not exaggerating to say, (gets) at least a phone call a day from someone who says, ‘Let me tell you what I have to say,’” Plecas said. “There’s several current employees with very interesting stories to tell.
“We have this throng of employees, 20-plus employees, many of whom were very senior managers, many of whom worked in finance ... who have much to say about wrongdoing which goes back 15-plus years.”
Mullen made his initial comments about the alleged firings several days after the Jan. 21 release of Plecas’ explosive report that accused suspended clerk Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz of “flagrant overspending.” Those accusation included inappropriate expenses, lavish foreign trips that involved little work and questionable retirement and pay benefits.
The allegations have not been proven in court and James and Lenz have denied any misconduct in their responses to the Plecas report, which were obtained exclusively by Postmedia on Friday.
They both want their jobs back.
Most fired workers were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements in exchange for severance, but they are legally able to speak with Plecas as part of his workplace investigation, the Speaker said.
“They all have the same story to tell with regard to how their career ended once they raised questions about wrongdoing and untoward activity. They were quickly fired,” he said. “They have sworn affidavits.”
As Speaker, Plecas has jurisdiction over non-unionized employees who work for the legislature and typically do not lose their jobs when a new government is elected.
He has no jurisdiction over workers such as ministerial or legislative assistants, who are employed by political parties. Nonetheless, Mullen said a half-dozen of these political staffers have also come to him with concerns. He would not provide specific details.
Mullen declined to say exactly how many more disgruntled former and current legislature employees have contacted him beyond the original 20. He said it will take time to verify or dismiss the allegations.
James and Lenz, the two most powerful non-elected people in the legislature, were suspended from their jobs Nov. 20 with little public information available to explain the surprise suspensions. Until the release of Plecas’ report in January, he and Mullen were criticized for what appeared to be a heavyhanded move against the two longtime employees.
That critical reaction, Plecas said, reinforced for the other ex-legislative employees that they were right to stay silent about alleged poor treatment because no one may have believed them.
“There was no focus on the people (James and Lenz) being accused. It was nothing, absolutely nothing. It was all about us as the whistleblowers and of course this made it extremely difficult for the 20 employees because they are all saying, ‘Thank God I didn’t say anything because look at what’s happening to them,’” Plecas said.
“It was a pretty serious beating for a couple of months. And I’m under no illusion that we are going to continue to take that beating.”
Plecas was elected the Liberal MLA for Abbotsford South, but was booted from the Liberal party after taking the speaker post, which allowed the NDP and Greens to form a minority government.