Alberta geneticist's $2.6M wrongful dismissal lawsuit against AHS and subsidiary thrown out

An applications judge with the Edmonton Court of King's Bench has granted a request fromAlberta Health Services and subsidiary Alberta Precision Laboratories that a geneticist's wrongful dismissal lawsuit be thrown out.

In an oral decision Thursday, Applications Judge Lucille Birkett said Stacey Hume was an employee of the University of Alberta, not an employee or dependant contractor of AHS or APL.

"I find that there is no merit to the claim against AHS and APL," she said.

Hume filed a lawsuit against AHS and APL in 2022, alleging she was fired because she reported bullying and harassing behaviour at the lab where she had worked for more than a decade.

She alleged that she learned patient reports were altered by a senior staff member in order to embarrass a junior colleague and that she was bullied and targeted for speaking out about bullying and harassment.

Hume worked as a professor in the U of A's medical genetics department and served as joint head for a lab on the university's campus. According to her contract, her job was contingent on funding from AHS and 75 per cent of her work was clinical.

In 2021, after Hume had reported her concerns,AHS advised the university it would stop funding her position. Hume received a year's notice from the U of A, which she was entitled to under a collective agreement.

One employer or two?

AHS's lawyer, Sarah Nykolaishen, said Hume signed an employment contract with U of A only, and that there was no indication she was being hired by two organizations.

"It's one job offered by one institution," she said in an Edmonton courtroom on Wednesday.

She said when Hume was being hired, she was offered the choice of being a Capital Health (now AHS) employee or being appointed to the university with academic and clinical duties and she consciously chose the academic path.

AHS claimed it stopped funding Hume's position "as part of a broader business strategy," hiring its own in-house geneticists to improve contract efficiencies and increase oversight of clinical services.

Hume's lawyer, Kathryn Marshall of Levitt Sheikh, said in court on Thursday that Hume was an AHS employee because she had a leadership role overseeing AHS employees, she had AHS business cards, an AHS email address, ID card and laptop, was promoted and demoted by AHS, had her performance reviewed by AHS, spoke to the media on behalf of AHS and completed its mandatory training.

"Contracts matter but they don't tell the whole story," she said.

Marshall said Hume also received a 15-year milestone certificate from the defendants that referred to her as a leader and staff member.

Marshall said AHS had complete control of Hume's job, including requiring her lab to transform into aCOVID-19 testing lab during the pandemic.

Geoff Hope, a lawyer for the third party defendant, U of A, said these kinds of funding arrangements and contingent appointments are common at universities and that performing work or services somewhereis not the same as being an employee.

"Everything comes back to the contract," he said in court on Thursday.

In her decision, Birkett said there were many indications of an employment relationship between the plaintiff and the defendants but being a valued member of a team working in a lab did not make Hume their employee or dependant contractor.

Devastating decision, lawyer says

Hume attended the hearings on Wednesday and Thursday with family members and supporters.

She told CBC News on Wednesday it was hard to hear the AHS lawyer's arguments and that she was fighting to ensure people who work in academic medicine can speak up without fear of reprisal.

"If we've got a health system where people can't speak up as to what's wrong with it, the inside frontline people can't say what's going on, what needs to be fixed, that's a huge problem, and as a patient and a taxpayer, I'm worried," she said.

Visibly upset with the decision on Thursday, she said in frustration in the courtroom, "17years and I'm treated like this."

"It's obviously very upsetting and devastating for her," Marshallsaid later, in an interview.

She said the law hasn't caught up with how employment rights are evolving and she and her client will consider an appeal.

AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson declined to comment on the case.