Arbitrator finds CAO's mass layoff threat and town hall jabs amounted to bullying
An Alberta arbitrator has ordered the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo to pay $300 in general damages to every member of an approximately 800-person CUPE bargaining unit, plus $68,193 to the union, after finding the former Chief Administrative Officer's handling of a mass-layoff threat and follow-up town halls amounted to harassment. Arbitrator Andrew R. Robertson, K.C. issued the award on April 16, 2026.
The CAO had prepared speaking notes containing an apology acknowledging that 2024 had been a "hard year" of organizational changes and the introduction of the Alternative Service Delivery Options. He admitted that, although they had those speaking notes, sometimes they just went into the discussion without referring to them. He had no chance to apologize for the harassment grievance itself, because his employment with the municipality ended in February 2025 without cause.
The award fell well short of the Union's claim of $150,000 to the local and $15,000 per member, roughly $12,150,000 in total. Robertson found that an award of $15,000 per person "would be in the nature of a punitive damages award, not compensatory." He awarded the $68,193 figure to compensate the Union for the cost of booking off employees for the Political Action Committee.
The notice that landed like a gut punch
On February 29, 2024, while union executives sat in a meeting with CAO Henry Hunter, the municipality emailed all employees a 120-days' notice flagging a plan to eliminate up to 459 bargaining unit jobs, a reduction of more than 50% of the roughly 800-member bargaining unit. Some workers learned the news by text message or radio before management spoke to them.
Cemetery technician Brenda Newman told the hearing she "felt sorry for the staff," and said she was afraid the situation might "push them over the edge," mentioning that the workforce had had suicides in the past. Recalling the late-2024 meeting with Hunter and the mayor, she asked at the hearing: "What kind of abuse is this? It is not normal." Horticultural Technician Crystal Carwardine described the aftermath as huge turmoil: "There were pushing matches, and words spoken that were not good to hear. There were people crying. The notice had a hostile effect on the work environment, with feelings of fear, rage, and sadness."
The notice was withdrawn on March 28, 2024, just less than one month after the original notice, and a June 5, 2024, joint announcement listed "No reduction to current CUPE Full-time Employees" as a shared outcome. Asked in cross-examination whether the 120-days' notice was a sham, union president Craig Milley acknowledged, "It looks like it was." Robertson later observed that the alternative service delivery options agreed to by the parties have mostly not been brought into effect.
The town halls, the ruling, and the mitigating factors
In late 2024, Hunter and Mayor Sandy Bowman toured worksites for follow-up meetings. At the December 11, 2024, Parks Department session, employees alleged Hunter said the municipality did not have money problems and never had money problems, that the employer was never going to lay anyone off, and that Team Lead positions were "useless." Hunter denied saying employees' jobs were never in danger and denied saying the notice was issued to send a message on who was boss, telling the hearing one word he never used was "boss." He admitted the Team Lead comment but said there were lots of good people in those positions and he was commenting on the role, not the people.
Construction Technician Adam Juhlin testified that Hunter said there was no intent to lay off, "just to remind people he was in charge." Robertson found the threat to "settled conditions of employment" of "about half, functionally all but one," of bargaining unit members "amounted to bullying," and drew an adverse inference from the mayor's failure to testify. The collective agreement's Article 02.06 commits the parties to "a harassment free workplace," and Robertson held that under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, "the obligation to investigate lies with the Employer, not the Union."
Robertson also weighed mitigating factors in setting the modest per-member figure. The 120-days' notice was withdrawn within a month, the alternative service delivery options were finalized by agreement, and both Hunter and the former HR manager are no longer with the municipality. Those factors, he said, suggest "a path forward to harmony in the workplace is clear."
