For 17 years, clinician worked for University of Alberta in role that depended on AHS funding

While Alberta Health Services funded a lab clinician’s job and ran the lab where she worked, that still did not make her an employee, an Alberta court has ruled, shutting down her wrongful dismissal claim against the health authority.

Justice K.H. Oviatt of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta reached that conclusion on Oct. 20, 2026, dismissing an appeal of an earlier ruling that her case against AHS and its wholly owned subsidiary, Alberta Precision Laboratories, had no merit.

The clinician had sought damages for wrongful dismissal, plus aggravated and punitive damages over the way her job ended.

Two organizations, one job

For 17 years, the clinician worked for the University of Alberta in a role that depended on AHS funding. Her duties mixed academic work with clinical work in an AHS lab on campus.

In November 2021, AHS told the university it would stop funding the position and hire laboratory clinicians directly. The court said this appears to have been part of a larger reorganization. The university gave the clinician 12 months’ notice under the collective agreement, with full pay and benefits throughout.

When she sued, AHS said it had never been her employer and brought a claim against the university. The university agreed it was the employer but said the dispute belonged in labour arbitration, not in court. An applications judge granted both requests, and she appealed only...

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