A health and safety manager who didn’t report her own fall in a company’s parking lot, has lost her job and a wrongful dismissal lawsuit she filed after being fired.
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Shari Lagala was terminated from her $72,500 Patene Building Supplies role after 13 years on the job, due to how she handled an accident in one of Patene’s locations on Garden Avenue in Brantford.
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Justice William Lemay ruled Lagala was “untruthful” with both her boss by trying to make it look like she had reported the injury, and to the court during testimony.
“This accident (was) not merely a breach of the policies that the plaintiff was charged with enforcing,” wrote Lemay in his decision.
“The plaintiff was responsible for ensuring that the employer adhered to the provisions of the (Workplace Safety and Insurance Act).”
Lemay said by failing to report her accident properly, Lagala put her employer at risk of being found in violation of the very rules she was in charge of monitoring.
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Lagala testified she was embarrassed after falling due to ice in the Garden Avenue parking lot on March 28, 2019. Evidence presented at the trial indicated it was doubtful there could have been ice that day.
When she developed back problems, Lagala saw health professionals and started her own WSIB claim and, months later, when she was told to get her employer to sign off on the claim, added her accident to a workplace safety report.
An employee at the Brantford plant testified that, more than half a year after the accident, Lagala leaned on him to create an email, dictating the contents of it, to try and convince the company owners that she had reported the accident when it occurred.
“This is very significant misconduct,” said the judge, noting it might be enough to support her termination, especially since the worker who was suborned felt beholden to Lagala for helping get his job at Patene.
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The woman was fired “for cause” at the end of 2019, losing her phone, company car and annual bonus, along with her salary, and the judge agreed with that termination.
“(Her) misconduct, and her dishonesty when confronted with that misconduct, irretrievably destroyed her ability to carry out her employment responsibilities. Put simply, an employer cannot be expected to employ a Health and Safety manager who does not comply with health and safety policies when those policies affect her and then is dishonest with her employer about what happened after the fact.”
But, in dismissing Lagala’s lawsuit, the judge also dismissed a counterclaim against the woman by Patene.
The company owners had loaned Lagala money and were suing for payment but the judge noted they had put the claim under a numbered company also owned by the Patene owners, so he declined to include it in the matter.
Patene has 13 locations around Ontario and Manitoba, including Brantford, serving the construction industry.
@EXPSGamble
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