Unity House firing upheld

Photo: CMHA

The Canadian Mental Health Association was justified in firing the longtime co-ordinator of the Unity House Drop-In Centre in Penticton, ruled the BC Labour Relations Board earlier this month.

The woman — who Castanet News is identifying as DB — ran the day-to-day operations of the centre on Skaha Lake Road from 2010 until being fired in 2017 for inappropriate relationships with two Unity House members, according to a labour relations decision made June 11, published online Wednesday.

She was employed with CHMA for 18 years prior to the dismissal without discipline.

Impacted by considerable hardship growing up through a number of brain injuries to her father, brother and daughter, DB came into mental health work first as a volunteer.

By all accounts, she was beloved at Unity House by its members, which include residents of the Skaha Sunrise Apartments next door.

“In her program coordinator role, [DB] frequently offered and was asked for hugs by the vulnerable community members for whom isolation is common,” arbitrator James Dorsey wrote in his decision.  “She was referred to as the ‘Clubhouse Mom.’ For some, she was the only person who ever hugged them.”

However, DB began an intimate relationship with a local man in 2013 who became a member of Unity House in 2014 after being referred to the clubhouse with bipolar disorder.

DB failed to break off the relationship, and continued to date the man while he was a client of the CMHA, said Dorsey in his report.

When executive director Dennis Tottenham confronted DB about the relationship in 2014, DB told him the man wasn’t actually a client, and Tottenham took her at her word. The relationship ended later that year.

That same year, DB began assisting a social worker in checking in on a disabled stroke victim living at the Skaha Sunrise Apartments. That relationship grew into a friendship, and DB’s car was often seen parked in front of the man’s apartment after hours. She repeatedly saw the man outside of work hours and on four occasions, forged his signature to pick up medication for him from the Unity House.

CMHA employees are required to avoid contact with clients outside of work hours.

The decision states rumours began to circulate among Unity House members that the relationship was more than platonic, something DB denies.

Enter a new boss; Leah Schulting stepped into Tottenham’s executive director role in April 2017.

“Schulting was hearing rumours DB was in tenant-member apartments after working hours.  She spoke to DB who regarded it as a personal activity on personal time,” the decision reads, adding Schulting expressed concerns for DB’s safety and prepared to write her up in July.

The situation persisted throughout the summer and Schulting was alerted to the fact that DB had been signing out medication for the tenant. An investigation ensued.

“What was well known by others was shocking news to Ms Schulting,” the decision reads.

DB was suspended and told to avoid contact with other CMHA employees, which she reportedly disobeyed, leading to her dismissal in Sept. 2017.

“While some might likely say “no good deed goes unpunished,” in DB’s position all of her work with all clients within proper boundaries were good deeds.  Her relationships outside the boundaries jeopardized those good deeds,” Dorsey said in his decision.

The union unsuccessfully argued that the CMHA “delved into her professional and personal life to find cause to justify dismissal” for the medication violation.

The adjudicator found that DB had been given ample warning to break off her after-work friendship with the stroke victim, but she remained “convinced or determined to continue all aspects of the relationship including morning coffee without any change.”

Dorsey acknowledged its “unusual” for a long term employee with no disciplinary record to be fired in such a way, but Schulting decided it was needed because the employee “did not acknowledge the seriousness of her behaviour or make any commitment to change.”