A federal employee victimized by malicious workplace gossip has been granted $310,000, an award upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal, according to Blacklock's Reporter.Despite federal lawyers arguing the record-breaking amount of the compensation was excessive, Federal Court of Appeal Justice Richard Boivin said he “sees no error that would warrant our intervention.”The Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board stated Correctional Service employee Louise Lyons of Chilliwack, BC, was subjected to years of “reprehensible, deliberate and shameful” slander. Lyons has served 16 years with the Correctional Service and has a spotless record, but was fired. She fell under management surveillance after a jailhouse informant falsely accused her of being a drug courier. “The employer either fabricated the false allegation itself or, as it claimed, simply brought false gossip before the Board,” the labour board ruled in 2022.“The employer brought virtually no evidence forward at the hearing pertaining to these very serious allegations made by the informant,” the labour board stated. “It became clear the employer acted on these allegations without ever having presented them fully to the grievor.”She testified she was unable to find work outside of janitorial duties, lost her home and car, came under a psychiatrist’s care, was subject to cruel gossip, and resorted to using a local food bank, Blacklock’s reported. “I just about tried to commit suicide,” Lyons testified.“Her co-workers heard and believed that she was fired for being a drug mule who smuggled fentanyl and other contraband on behalf of organized crime,” the labour board stated, adding the matter intensified when Correctional Service lawyers propagated false rumours Lyons was a heavy drug user, which was a “brazen act of bringing a false, harmful allegation completely unsupported by any evidence.”“The employer’s conduct through the unfortunately lengthy saga from 2016 to 2020 was malicious, reprehensible, deliberate and shameful in its relentless efforts to harm her,” the labour board wrote. It slammed Correctional Service for “tawdry allegations about her personal life.”“No hearing before this Board should ever again be presented with false and extremely prejudicial information, possibly fabricated by the employer and intended to obstruct the administration of justice in a grievance adjudication,” the labour board said. “The deliberate act of the employer of bringing such false information to the Board is highly offensive to any reasonable sense of justice and decency.”Lyons was awarded $135,000 for the “psychological harm she suffered” and $175,000 in punitive damages. “This amount is intended to punish the Correctional Service and deter any future such deplorable misconduct,” the labour board wrote.
A federal employee victimized by malicious workplace gossip has been granted $310,000, an award upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal, according to Blacklock's Reporter.Despite federal lawyers arguing the record-breaking amount of the compensation was excessive, Federal Court of Appeal Justice Richard Boivin said he “sees no error that would warrant our intervention.”The Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board stated Correctional Service employee Louise Lyons of Chilliwack, BC, was subjected to years of “reprehensible, deliberate and shameful” slander. Lyons has served 16 years with the Correctional Service and has a spotless record, but was fired. She fell under management surveillance after a jailhouse informant falsely accused her of being a drug courier. “The employer either fabricated the false allegation itself or, as it claimed, simply brought false gossip before the Board,” the labour board ruled in 2022.“The employer brought virtually no evidence forward at the hearing pertaining to these very serious allegations made by the informant,” the labour board stated. “It became clear the employer acted on these allegations without ever having presented them fully to the grievor.”She testified she was unable to find work outside of janitorial duties, lost her home and car, came under a psychiatrist’s care, was subject to cruel gossip, and resorted to using a local food bank, Blacklock’s reported. “I just about tried to commit suicide,” Lyons testified.“Her co-workers heard and believed that she was fired for being a drug mule who smuggled fentanyl and other contraband on behalf of organized crime,” the labour board stated, adding the matter intensified when Correctional Service lawyers propagated false rumours Lyons was a heavy drug user, which was a “brazen act of bringing a false, harmful allegation completely unsupported by any evidence.”“The employer’s conduct through the unfortunately lengthy saga from 2016 to 2020 was malicious, reprehensible, deliberate and shameful in its relentless efforts to harm her,” the labour board wrote. It slammed Correctional Service for “tawdry allegations about her personal life.”“No hearing before this Board should ever again be presented with false and extremely prejudicial information, possibly fabricated by the employer and intended to obstruct the administration of justice in a grievance adjudication,” the labour board said. “The deliberate act of the employer of bringing such false information to the Board is highly offensive to any reasonable sense of justice and decency.”Lyons was awarded $135,000 for the “psychological harm she suffered” and $175,000 in punitive damages. “This amount is intended to punish the Correctional Service and deter any future such deplorable misconduct,” the labour board wrote.
