cnesst

Nelson Sergerie, LJI Journalist

GASPÉ – Diane Perron, the former director of Youth Protection for the Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands, has failed in her bid to have an occupational injury claim from October 2017 recognized by the Administrative Labour Tribunal against the Gaspé Peninsula Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) and its former deputy president and Chief executive officer Connie Jacques. 

A 15-page decision filed by Administrative Judge Sophie Moulin in December rejected Ms. Perron’s application, citing the employer’s right of management. 

Initially, the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) had accepted the claim and declared that Ms. Perron had suffered a work-related accident. In administrative review, the Commission upheld its decision, which the CISSS challenged before the court. 

The CISSS argued that the alleged circumstances could not be described as an unforeseen and sudden event within the meaning of Section 2 of the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases. 

Diane Perron’s representative argued that her client had suffered a work accident under this section. 

Diane Perron became director of youth protection when the CISSS was created in 2015. Following certain events, the former director of Youth Protection filed a complaint of psychological harassment in December 2017 as well as a complaint for prohibited practices since she considered herself the victim of reprisals due to illness and, on the other hand, she filed a claim for an occupational injury. 

A court decision dismissed the complaint of psychological harassment, noted her withdrawal concerning the complaint for prohibited practices and declared that she had not suffered an occupational injury. However, Ms. Perron is requesting a review of the conclusion applicable to the claim for the employment injury. 

In a subsequent review, the tribunal concluded that there was a lack of motivation regarding the employment injury, revoked the decision and returned the file to the Tribunal, hence the present dispute and the holding of a new hearing. 

The tribunal therefore had to determine whether Ms. Perron suffered an employment injury from a work accident in October 2017. 

The employer’s representative maintains that the Deputy President and CEO, Connie Jacques, is exercising her legitimate management rights and that the situations described are not unexpected and sudden events within the meaning of the Act. 

Ms. Perron’s representative maintains that the accumulation of events and incidents that have occurred since the end of fall 2016 can be considered an unexpected and sudden event within the meaning of the Act and that the diagnosed injury, namely an adjustment disorder with mixed mood, is related to them. 

The alleged events are mainly the receipt of emails from Connie Jacques, the exclusion of the worker from the clinical coordination committee meetings and the meeting of October 16, 2017. 

In the fall of 2016, several emails were exchanged between Ms. Perron and Ms. Jacques. However, the tone, words and style of Ms. Jacques’ messages led Ms. Perron to file a complaint for psychological harassment according to the employer’s internal policy. 

A mediation process was held in March 2017, during which Connie Jacques acknowledged the facts and apologized to the worker. Afterward, Ms. Perron confirmed that after the mediation the writings were clearer. “Things were going well,” she stated. 

However, while the emails themselves were not deemed an unforeseen and sudden event by the court, they were considered potential triggers for interpersonal conflicts and the psychological stress that followed. 

Moreover, in her complaint of psychological harassment on December 5, 2017, Ms. Perron states that her superior’s behaviour “Occurred subsequently, insidiously until the suspension last October.” 

Although the former director of Youth Protection alleges several other events related to psychological harassment, the court notes that her representative describes three other situations that may be a combination of events and be considered an unforeseen and sudden event, namely the exclusion of the worker from a committee, the performance evaluation of August 2017 and the meeting with a view to an administrative suspension on October 16, 2017. 

With regard to the right of management, the court must assess whether the employer exercises its powers in a rational and reasonable manner, in good faith and without abusing them. 

In the decision, the judge writes that the employer’s right of management includes great discretion in the direction and control of activities. “He can exercise his right of management firmly and even make mistakes,” wrote the judge. 

On all the events mentioned, the court considers that Connie Jacques may have been authoritarian and clumsy in certain interventions, but recalls that the right of management can be exercised firmly and that it includes the right to make mistakes as long as it is not abusive or unreasonable. 

Thus, in the absence of an unforeseen and sudden event, the court concludes that Ms. Perron did not suffer an occupational injury in October 2017. 

The Gaspé Peninsula CISSS declined a request for a response. 

For her part, Diane Perron, now retired, considers that an employer’s right to management is unquestionably legitimate, but it is not without limits and must be carried out rigorously and in compliance with the policies and procedures in force. 

She recalls that in 2018, following a CNESST investigation into psychological harassment, confirmed psychological harassment in the situation on the part of her superior, Connie Jacques. 

“That at the end of the TAT (Tribunal administratif du travail, which deals with labour issues) process, whether it is judged otherwise, it is the prerogative of the TAT and we can only respect that,” mentions Ms. Perron, who notes in passing that the process lasted six years, from 2018 to 2024. 

She considers that a lot of insights emerged from it that exposed rather inconsistent and dubious details on certain hierarchical management practices. 

“We will recall the investigation report of the Auditor General of Quebec, in 2022, which lifted the veil on several major shortcomings in the management practices of the Gaspé Peninsula CISSS concerning managers as well as the deficient compliance with several of its regulations,” she notes. Ms. Perron says she has been approached a few times about other stories of workplace harassment similar to hers, even by people she did not know. 

She claims to have seen people who were “Totally at the end of their rope,” physically and psychologically, in distress, openly threatened with reprisals or already experiencing them, who said they were forced to sign confidentiality agreements regarding various issues of management abuse to avoid reprisals. 

The former Member of the National Assembly for Bonaventure, Sylvain Roy, has also received similar comments to those mentioned by Ms. Perron while he was a member of the National Assembly.