Greater Sudbury has paid out more than $200,000 in settlements to current or former employees who successfully sued the city since October 2014, Sudbury.com has learned.
The former staffers can't be named because of privacy rules, and Sudbury.com was only able to obtain the dollar amounts, not the details surrounding the individual cases.
Between Oct. 1, 2014 and July 18, 2016, the city paid out $147,314 to employees past or present who sued the municipality.
Sudbury.com filed the freedom of information (FOI) request last summer, a request that was initially refused. However, access to the information was granted after an appeal to the Information and Privacy Commission of Ontario.
Between July and December of this year, another former staffer successfully sued the city for $53,886, bringing the total since October 2014, when the current city council was elected, to $201,200.
In an email, Kristen Newman, the assistant city solicitor, said the municipality now considers the matter closed.
“You indicated in (our phone conversation) that you would be willing to resolve this matter if you received a table indicating the dollar amounts that the City of Greater Sudbury has paid out in legal settlements as a result of lawsuits by current or former employees between Oct. 1, 2014 and July 18, 2016,” Newman wrote.
“The city can (also) confirm that there was one lawsuit ending in the city making a cash settlement (since July) … I believe this should satisfy your request and, as such, the city will be closing its file.”
The news comes as another lawsuit is scheduled to come to court early next year. Greater Sudbury is being sued by a former member of Mayor Brian Bigger's office, who says she was fired for complaining about being harassed by Bigger's chief of staff, Melissa Zanette.
The city has also filed a statement of defence denying any wrongdoing and refuting all allegations. None of the claims have been proven in court.
The suit was filed by Alicia Lachance, a former public relations assistant, first with Mayor Marianne Matichuk for four months, then with Bigger after his election victory in October 2014.
Lachance is seeking $150,000 for being wrongfully dismissed, another $150,000 in aggravated and punitive damages, her legal costs and any other award “the court deems just.”
Alternatively, she's asking the court to award about $159,000, the amount she says she is owed for the remainder of her contract in salary and benefits.
In a statement when the story broke in June, Bigger said the city could not comment on a matter before the courts.
“While this matter is before the courts and we cannot speak to matters pertaining to human resources, I categorically refute the claims made by the complainant,” Bigger said in the statement.
“I stand firmly behind Ms. Zanette and her work, and believe that the position of the city and my office will be upheld by the court.”
The city is being represented by Hicks Morley Hamilton Steward Storie LLP, a Toronto-based law firm, while Lachance is being represented by the Sudbury firm Mason, Poratto-Mason LLP.
