A 'superstar' physiotherapist asked for leave. What his employer didn't do next changed everything
A health-care employer called one of its long-serving physiotherapists a "superstar" it needed to keep happy. Then it accepted his resignation without ever asking whether his mental health was behind it. An Alberta tribunal found that failure to ask amounted to discrimination.
On June 17, 2026, the Human Rights Tribunal of Alberta ordered Lifemark Health Corp. to pay former physiotherapist David Volpi $40,000 in general damages and $965,338.14 in lost wages, plus interest, after finding it discriminated against him on the ground of mental disability at its Village Square clinic. Tribunal member Dana L. Christianson set the award in a remedy decision that followed an earlier finding of liability.
Volpi had worked for the company for 16 years. The tribunal noted he earned a high income partly because he ran two schedules at once, letting him see roughly twice as many patients a day.
By 2015 and 2016, that arrangement was under review. Insurance companies had complained about the double-booking, so the company brought in a policy allowing only one insurance patient per time slot. The changes were a source of stress for him.
Volpi had alleged the workplace turned toxic and that the company was harassing him, but the tribunal did not accept those claims in its earlier merits ruling. The discrimination it did find centred on what came next: his...
A California-based physician was recently arrested after pleading guilty to charges of healthcare fraud. Dr. Sanjoy Banerjee, was a medical director for Fountain Hospice, based in Los Angeles. Two...