She called her settlement 'hush money' 13 years later — the court called it binding
ACJ McWatt's panel ruled May 13, 2026, that a former IESO worker must repay her $70,000 settlement after breaching her termination agreement.
Maya Knauth signed her termination agreement with the Independent Electricity System Operator on March 29, 2011. She walked away with $50,000 as a retiring allowance and $20,000 in damages for her harassment and discrimination allegations, paid in exchange for withdrawing her Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario claim. Included in the deal: any future claim tied to her employment or resignation triggered repayment of the full $70,000.
More than 13 years later, she filed one. Knauth filed an Unfair Labour Practice complaint at the Ontario Labour Relations Board in October 2024, calling the agreement unlawful and the money "hush money." The OLRB dismissed it. The IESO grieved the breach, and Arbitrator John Stout ruled on June 25, 2025, that Knauth had to repay the $70,000 less applicable statutory deductions, plus legal costs.
The arbitrator found Knauth had resigned voluntarily, not constructively, and the court agreed. She had argued she was forced out, but the panel pointed to evidence she initiated the exit conversation through her union after going on sick leave in January 2011. The agreement she signed stated she "irrevocably resigned from her employment with the IESO."
Knauth also argued she had lacked the mental...
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