A former chief administrative officer in western Manitoba is suing the rural municipality he worked for, alleging he was forced to resign after “humiliating, high-handed” treatment by the current reeve.
In a statement of claim filed at the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench on Sept. 26, James Webb accuses the municipality of Swan Valley West of wrongful dismissal and alleges that he was bullied and harassed by Bill Gade, who is now the municipality’s reeve and was previously a council member.
Webb started to work for Swan Valley West as its financial officer and assistant chief administrative officer in January 2020, becoming the acting CAO later that year before he was promoted to CAO in March 2021, the suit says.
During his work at Swan Valley West, Webb claims he was subjected to “ridicule, bullying and harassment both inside and outside the workplace” by Gade.
Webb’s suit alleges that starting around November 2020, Gade — then a municipal councillor — interfered with his ability to do his work and “exhibited harassing, inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour” toward him both at work and on Gade’s public radio show.
The lawsuit describes an instance where Gade allegedly followed Webb through a job site, and later said on his radio show that Webb’s performance was inadequate.
Gade continued to make false allegations about Webb on his radio show and on social media between 2021 and 2022, the suit alleges.
Webb claims Gade accused him of harassing other employees, wrongfully dismissing another employee, mismanaging the municipality’s water treatment plant, intentionally deleting council meeting recordings and getting into a physical altercation with a council member during an in-camera meeting.
His suit says he suffered “serious mental distress” and was forced to resign as CAO, in what the suit terms a “constructive dismissal” — a term meaning the employee was not directly fired, but the employer has made it impossible for the employee to continue working.
The “embarrassing treatment” Webb experienced at Swan Valley West breached a term of his contract that entitled him to fair treatment, making his continued employment impossible, the suit alleges.
Webb was constructively dismissed from his job in October 2022, the suit says.
Webb resigned, reeve says
None of the allegations have been tested in court.
While a statement of defence has not yet been filed, Gade says that Webb tendered his resignation as CAO in October 2022, about two days after Gade was sworn in as reeve of Swan Valley West.
Gade, who was a municipal council member from 2018 to 2022, told CBC he didn’t spend much time working with Webb.
“It’s too bad that it’s come to this with James. We certainly wanted him to be part of our team, and he chose not to be,” Gade said in a Wednesday phone interview.
“James is a former employee, and sometimes former employees are disgruntled, and they have some concerns,” he said.
“We want his issues to be resolved. We don’t want him unhappy either, and if this is how we have to resolve it, certainly we look forward to there being some resolution so we can all move forward,” he said.
Webb’s suit is seeking aggravated, special and punitive damages in the lawsuit, as well as damages for mental stress and a court declaration that he was wrongfully dismissed from his job.