The City of Vernon is painting a very different picture of the departure of its former fire chief than Keith Green laid out in his lawsuit against his former employer.
In February, Vernon’s former fire chief filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging it terminated him without cause and didn’t offer to accommodate his disability.
The municipality filed a response to Green’s civil claim in mid-March, arguing it was Green, not the city, that wasn’t interested in seeing Green return to work.
The city says it did accommodate Green’s disability and it is denying it discriminated against him.
Vernon also argues it doesn’t owe its former fire chief any compensation.
In court documents, the city alleges that, almost a year into his leave, Green emailed city council to say “he did not trust the city and would not wish to work with people he didn’t trust.”
Two versions of events
Both sides agree that Green went off work in September 2016 after more than five years as the city’s fire chief.
The city says he went on sick leave while Green, in his lawsuit, says it was because he “became disabled due to a work-related psychological disability.”
Green’s lawyer said his client suffered from “work-related PTSD and depression.”
According to the city, Green would never return to work. He was ultimately let go in August 2018, which led to the lawsuit.
WATCH: Vernon’s former fire chief takes city to court
However, the city alleges it was the other way around, and that it was Green who wasn’t interested in returning to the job, even though the city “made best efforts to accommodate a return to work.”
The city claims that as far back as June 2017, less than a year after he initially went on leave, Green’s doctor “confirmed he was fit to return to work on a gradual basis,” only to reverse that assessment.
The municipality said in court documents that it made a plan to get the fire chief back to work and set up a meeting with him to talk about it.
However, the city said, instead of arranging a meeting with Green, the municipality was informed by Green’s doctor that “he would be unemployable for the next three months.”
Vernon said that was followed up, roughly three months later, by Green’s email to council where the city alleges he asked for an “exit plan.”
However, the former fire chief’s lawyer Conrad Margolis said Green was “engaged in a severe mental health struggle” at the time and “the request he then made for a buyout from the city was born out of frustration and desperation, and he withdrew that request shortly afterward.”
Margolis said Green later attended a PTSD program suggested by another fire chief “that helped him turn a corner and begin to recover his health.”
Further to that, the city said it was told by both Green’s doctor and WorkSafe BC in the spring and early summer of 2018 that he was either unlikely to, or couldn’t, return to the job of fire chief.
Vernon said it was also told by its insurance provider in early August 2018 that Green “had declined to participate in a gradual return to work plan and had advised he would not be returning to work at the city or as fire chief.”
However, Green’s lawyer maintains he was in the process of making a plan to get back to work when the city ended his employment and that Green would like to return to a different position with the city.
Frustrated or terminated?
The City of Vernon and Green parted ways in August 2018, after the former fire chief had spent almost two years on leave.
Green’s suit argues he was “wrongfully” fired on August 16 “without cause” and thus he’s entitled to compensation in line with a clause in his employment contract, the lawsuit says, requiring the city of Vernon to provide one year’s notice if it wanted to terminate his employment without cause.
In court documents, the city makes the case that it didn’t fire Green without cause. Instead, it is arguing that their contract was simply frustrated so it shouldn’t have to pay him compensation.
WATCH: Vernon told to reinstate fired fire department employees
Green disputes that their contract was frustrated. Meanwhile, he continues to receive benefits from a private insurance company and WorkSafeBC.
Margolis said the lawsuit was filed to “preserve all legal options” and he and his client are “more focused on pursuing a Human Rights Tribunal Complaint.”
They are hoping that process leads to Green getting another city position.
Meanwhile, Green’s attorney said he will attempt to settle the civil case with the city out of court.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
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