Former eHealth employee sues for wrongful dismissal

Statement of claim also alleges agency’s dysfunction compromised public’s records

The security of electronic health records for millions of Ontarians could be compromised under moneysaving decisions made by eHealth Ontario, says a former employee suing the independent provincial agency for wrongful dismissal.

David Mahesh, 61, of Oshawa, alleged in a statement of claim filed on Wednesday in Ontario Superior Court that he was terminated in January this year on the basis of age, physical disability and ethnicity.

Mahesh is claiming $500,000 for injury to his dignity and feelings of self-worth, a further $500,000 for the agency’s breach of good faith, $150,000 for breach of contract in failure to provide due notice, as well as damages for lost income and punitive damages, the statement says.

None of the claims has been tested in court. His claim also contained allegations of widespread dysfunction in the agency.

Patricia Trott, communications director for eHealth, told the Star by email “we can’t comment on the statement because this matter is before the court. However, I can say that we take privacy and security extremely seriously and it’s part of our core function at the agency.”

She said eHealth has “a number of rigorous measures in place,” outlined on the agency’s website.

According to the website, those security and privacy measures include: ensuring that the electronic exchange of information among patients and health-care providers is conducted securely, and that the privacy office promotes a culture of privacy within eHealth Ontario.

Mahesh is an Indian-born IT professional with an MSc from a University of North Carolina affiliate and a bachelor of laws from Madras University in India, the statement says. He immigrated to Canada in 1998.

His employment with eHealth began in September 2008, the state- ment says. He was hired just before a report by the provincial auditor of the day, which estimated $1 billion had been wasted in a failed attempt by eHealth to get a digital health record system up and running.

The statement says eHealth had “embarked on a well thought-out plan of getting rid of older and longservice employees who are capable of recognizing the downward transformation in eHealth Ontario’s deliverables to Ontarians and the erosion of its historical mandate.”

Among the issues in the statement was the allegation that plans for a private, secure network for healthcare records accessible to doctors and hospitals had been compromised in the name of cost-saving.

“Lately, eHealth Ontario’s vendor-management team has been busy working on migrating hospitals from the MPN (managed private network) over to the public Internet, in an apparent attempt to save money,” the statement says. This, the statement says, jeopardized the “privacy and security” of the health records of millions of Ontarians.

Mahesh — who said he “routinely raised concerns” regarding eHealth operations — says in the statement that a superior made regular jokes about his age. He weighed 230 pounds, the claim says. He was greyhaired and suffered from chronic back issues and walked with a cane.

His appearance, the statement says, was “the antithesis of the erroneous but prevailing social view that only a young person clad in hoodie and jeans holds the key to the success of an organization’s IT environment and security.”

In August 2015, he sent an email to superiors and the agency’s human resources, objecting to a negative performance review and suggesting he was being discriminated against, the statement says.

A few months after his discrimination complaint last year, Mahesh received an email from management saying the investigation was over and that nothing had been found to substantiate his allegations, the statement says.

In January, he was terminated.