Arbitrator finds CAO's mass layoff threat and town hall jabs amounted to bullying
An Alberta arbitrator has ordered the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo to pay $300 in general damages to every member of an approximately 800-person CUPE bargaining unit, plus $68,193 to the union, after finding the former Chief Administrative Officer's handling of a mass-layoff threat and follow-up town halls amounted to harassment. Arbitrator Andrew R. Robertson, K.C. issued the award on April 16, 2026.
The CAO had prepared speaking notes containing an apology acknowledging that 2024 had been a "hard year" of organizational changes and the introduction of the Alternative Service Delivery Options. He admitted that, although they had those speaking notes, sometimes they just went into the discussion without referring to them. He had no chance to apologize for the harassment grievance itself, because his employment with the municipality ended in February 2025 without cause.
The award fell well short of the Union's claim of $150,000 to the local and $15,000 per member, roughly $12,150,000 in total. Robertson found that an award of $15,000 per person "would be in the nature of a punitive damages award, not compensatory." He awarded the $68,193 figure to compensate the Union for the cost of booking off employees for the Political Action Committee.
On February 29, 2024, while union executives sat in a meeting with CAO Henry Hunter, the municipality...
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