D’Angelo wants $1.15 M
Former CAO claims Niagara Region intentionally caused him mental distress
Niagara Region’s former CAO is suing the municipality for more than $1.15 million for making his work environment “untenable,” reneging on a controversial contract extension, making his life “miserable” and causing him “mental distress suffering.”
In his statement of claim, obtained by The Standard, Carmen D’Angelo says personnel at the Region shared “personal and confidential information” about him with the news media.
“As a result of the reports in the press, on or about Aug. 30, 2018, the Ontario Ombudsman announced a formal investigation into the hiring of Carmelo,” the statement says.
D’Angelo, who recently quit his job after being on medical leave for months, is demanding three years’ pay, damages of $150,000 for breaching his confidentiality and $250,000 in “special damages” for the “infliction of mental suffering.”
He is also claiming unspecified payments for legal costs, interest and other awards to be determined by the courts.
The claims have yet to be proven in court.
The Region has not yet filed a statement of defence.
The Standard has also obtained the statement of claim made by former regional general manager Chris Carter, who was fired in December by acting CAO Ron Read D’Angelo’s full statement of claim on our website
Tripp. He is suing for $850,000 plus other payments. (See related story A3)
The allegations in D’Angelo’s claim, which have not been proven in court, say that he “took medical leave due to the Region’s treatment of him from summer 2018 onwards.” The document says the Region’s conduct was “outrageous and calculated.”
D’Angelo’s allegations, filed with a Hamilton court, rest on three claims: that he was “constructively dismissed,” that the Region intruded on his “seclusion” and that the Region intentionally inflicted mental suffering.
A constructive dismissal claim is made when someone says an employer improperly and significantly changed the conditions of employment. In this case, D’Angelo says that happened on Dec. 28, when the newly elected regional council declared his 2017 contract extension null and void.
That contract was negotiated privately with then regional chair Alan Caslin. It extended D’Angelo’s contract from 2019 to 2022, and gave him three years’ pay even if he was fired with cause.
The deal was signed without the knowledge or consent of regional council and is under investigation by the Ombudsman, which is also looking into how D’Angelo was hired in 2016.
The investigation was launched in August after months of reporting by The Standard which showed the 2016 regional CAO hiring process was tainted. The Standard found D’Angelo downloaded at least six documents containing confidential and secret information a candidate for the job should not have.
Most of those documents were created by members of Caslin’s personal staff. Caslin was also the chair of the hiring committee.
D’Angelo, who is represented by the Toronto law firm of Whitten & Lublin, claims he “performed admirably” as CAO, citing two “exceptional performance” appraisals in 2017 and 2018.
The Standard has learned the first appraisal was signed only by Caslin in October 2017, shortly before he and D’Angelo negotiated the contract extension.
The second appraisal was signed by Caslin and may have had input from the chairs of various regional committees.
The full regional council was not involved in either appraisal.
The claim also says D’Angelo received a pay raise to $250,000 annually in January 2018, up from $230,000.
D’Angelo says the Region committed “intrusion into seclusion” by allowing open discussion of “personal and confidential information” about him at council meetings. That resulted, according to the claim, in materials being shared with the press.
“The Region was reckless as to the intrusion upon the private affairs of Carmelo,” the statement says.
The claim also says the mental stress inflicted upon D’Angelo has left him unable to get a new job.
“Carmelo is presently unfit to attempt to secure alternative, comparable employment,” it says.