Edmonton Coun. Jennifer Rice seeks court orders to toss misconduct investigation and stop sanction hearing

Article content

Edmonton Coun. Jennifer Rice is asking for court orders to stop city council from sanctioning her for breaking council’s code of conduct and to throw out an investigative report alleging she harassed and discriminated against one of her former employees.

Public court documents filed on Rice’s behalf Aug. 1 reveal the city’s integrity commissioner began investigating a complaint against the councillor last fall and completed a report March 19. A Court of Kings Bench Justice will review Rice’s case at a hearing on Aug. 21 in Edmonton.

Article content

This is the first public confirmation there is an official investigation into the Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi councillor’s alleged misconduct, that the investigation found she broke council’s code of conduct, and that a sanction hearing for council to deliver potential punishments is in the works.

Postmedia reported allegations from five of Rice’s former employees last November who accused her of bullying, disorganization, and creating a hostile work environment in her office which has seen an unusually high amount of turnover. Rice, they said, yelled at and belittled her staff and others, made demands that were unreasonable or impossible, and blamed staff for her shortcomings. They attributed the mistreatment they endured in part to the councillor’s preoccupation with her public image and paranoia. Postmedia also obtained an audio recording of a heated argument in Rice’s office between herself and two staff members. Rice declined interviews for those stories and issued a public apology several days later.

Court records show integrity commissioner Jamie Pytel has now investigated a complaint and substantiated four allegations of harassment and one of discrimination. Several other incidents were dismissed or unsubstantiated. Full details on the allegations and the suggested sanctions aren’t included in these documents.

Article content

Article content

Rice is seeking several court orders that if granted would halt the sanction hearing until her case is heard in court, toss the investigation’s findings, and compel the city and the integrity commissioner to reveal the identities of city councillors who participated and share all evidence including interview recordings and witness statements.

The councillor disagrees with Pytel’s conclusions, arguing the findings of harassment and discrimination are “unreasonable” and should be thrown out. She alleges the investigation process was unfair and was expanded “to cover matters beyond the scope” of the original complaint.

In fact, Rice argues the integrity commissioner shouldn’t have investigated the complaint at all because it was filed by one of her former employees and there are other legal avenues available for work-related complaints.

Rice also claims Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and some other councillors are potentially biased against her. She points to public comments the mayor, Coun. Andrew Knack and Coun. Erin Rutherford made to this newspaper expressing their concern in the days after Postmedia reported stories about the bullying allegations.

Article content

She met with the mayor and Knack following that report and claims they pressured her to speak with the integrity commissioner.

“During the meeting, the mayor and Knack talked to me about how to support staff and pressured me to contact the commissioner,” her affidavit states.

The councillor is asking the court to decide which members of council “should be disqualified from participating in the sanction hearing.”

“Through my legal counsel, I learned that the mayor and three other unidentified councillors contacted the commissioner regarding me … the commissioner has provided some limited information regarding these interactions. The city has not provided me any information … I have no idea what information the mayor and the councillors had that would lead them to contact the commissioner,” Rice states in an affidavit.

Rice claims she was left in the dark about parts of the investigation. She didn’t know Pytel would be speaking to seven witnesses — Rice suspects the witnesses were offered up by the person who filed the complaint, suspecting bias. The councillor is demanding copies of all evidence used against her including all witness statements and interview recordings, and costs to cover the court proceedings.

Article content

Discrimination and harassment

Rice learned about a complaint and investigation on Oct. 26. A former employee wasn’t offered a permanent position after a three-month probation, court records state. The employee isn’t named and referred to as the complainant.

The councillor offered to let the former staffer leave work early to go to a second job, the documents said, but Rice told the staffer “not to say anything to anyone.”

“The commissioner found this constituted discrimination in that (Rice) discouraged the complainant to be open about the nature of their other job,” the record states. “The finding of discrimination is unreasonable. (Rice) allowed the complainant to leave work early to attend a second job, which was a concession, not discrimination.”

Article content

The documents don’t state what kind of discrimination allegedly occurred or specify the person’s secondary job.

As for harassment, the integrity commissioner dismissed some allegations but agreed in four cases that Rice’s behaviour amounted to harassment.

Pytel found Rice reassigned work on a newsletter to another employee, which Pytel found was harassment. In another case, Rice “limited interactions” with the employee, a person Rice suggests was difficult to deal with.

“The complainant was frustrated, defensive and argumentative when dealing with (Rice). As a result, (Rice) limited interactions with the complainant, as per professional advice (Rice) received from human resources,” the record states.

In another incident, a former employee allegedly refused to book an event in a hall so Rice went directly to a deputy city manager. Pytel determined this incident, and one involving packing a bag, amounted to harassment.

“The complainant forgot to pack some papers in a bag for an event. (Rice) noted the missing papers and unpacked and repacked the bag. The commissioner found that the complainant exaggerated this incident and that the complainant “tends to not admit to making mistakes”. Nevertheless, the commissioner found this was harassment.”

Article content

By last November, in more than two years on council, 19 people had worked in Rice’s office — nearly three times more staff than any other member of council.

lboothby@postmedia.com

@laurby

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.

Article content