Marcel Marcellin, a once high-profile city hall employee and former police officer, has filed a wrongful dismissal and breach of conduct lawsuit against the City of London, in which he alleges racism at city hall and that race was a factor in his termination.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
In the lawsuit, filed June 12, Marcellin alleges that at a meeting on Jan. 17, 2019 that he “was led to believe” would centre on his return to work from a medical leave, he was instead let go “effective immediately due to ‘restructuring.'” The lawsuit alleges he was terminated without cause and without reasonable notice or adequate compensation.
The lawsuit also alleges Marcellin, who is Black, was exposed to racism at city hall and that race played a factor in his dismissal — specifically in regards to his superior, then-city manager Martin Hayward.
Global News Radio 980 CFPL’s attempts to reach Hayward for comment prior to publication have been unsuccessful. In response to a request for comment from the city itself, a spokesperson told Global News that “because this is a matter that’s before the courts, the City won’t be providing any comment.”
The London courthouse confirmed to Global News it has yet to receive a statement of defence from the city as of 2 p.m. on June 16.
“The timing seems to be more karmic than deliberate,” said Marcellin’s lawyer, Phil Millar, referencing the growing discourse on issues surrounding systemic anti-Black racism worldwide highlighted by protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd in the United States.
Millar says city hall refused to pay Marcellin his severance and “when we couldn’t get any cooperation,” they brought forth the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Marcellin says that in response to diversity initiatives suggested by certain city councillors, Hayward said the city could not “legislate feelings.” Marcellin also says he was paid 18 per cent less than the other two directors he worked with in Hayward’s office — one of whom was hired after Marcellin.
The lawsuit also states that Marcellin was repeatedly called into Hayward’s office to “discuss” diversity-related matters despite the fact that Marcellin explicitly requested he be asked to focus on “non-diversity related strategic issues,” noting that the city already had a dedicated diversity officer.
In one of those instances, Marcellin alleges Hayward asked him to “speak with a black city counsellor about toning down his criticism of the City’s lack of diversity in hiring” because the criticisms were making city staff “appear racist” and “this was making them upset.”
Additionally, Marcellin alleges that Hayward once went on a “racist diatribe” about how Black people had a “‘poverty’ mentality” and expected jobs to be handed to them “instead of waiting their turn like Mr. Hayward did when he immigrated from England.”
After Marcellin was spotted by Hayward having a conversation with a candidate who is a Black immigrant from Africa, Hayward allegedly told Marcellin that he would only suggest hiring the candidate “in a different department to avoid having ‘two blacks (sic)'” in his office.
“I don’t want to give the impression that, you know, I’m thin-skinned. I’ve worked in public service for 24 years and I had to deal with a lot of different issues. But as somebody who worked in diversity and trying to create inclusive workplaces, that was inappropriate,” Marcellin said on The Craig Needles Show on Tuesday.
“More inappropriate was the fact that, you know, we’re having a conversation about somebody who was about to run for municipal council. And the comments were sort of tied to our discussions about her inquiring about what it’s like to work at city hall and things like that. And that’s when he sort of went off and started describing what he thought about immigrants from Africa and Black people in general.”
Marcellin’s lawsuit also alleges his termination was based in part on the mental health leave he was taking at the time and was therefore “discriminatory on the basis of disability.” Marcellin began to struggle with anxiety and depression in 2017, in part due to “an ongoing family law proceeding with his ex-spouse.”
In August 2018, Marcellin was charged with two counts of assault dating back to alleged incidents that happened in the 90s involving his former spouse. Those charges were withdrawn late last June in favour of a peace bond that was in place until the end of 2019. His lawyer at the time, Joseph Markson, did not detail the conditions, but stressed that entering into a peace bond is not an admission of criminal conduct and that had the matter gone to trial it would have been “vigorously defended.”
In January 2020, Marcellin filed a $4-million defamation lawsuit against 11 defendants, including The London Abused Women’s Centre and its executive director Megan Walker, ANOVA Women’s Centre, Kate Wiggins and London and Woodstock police, and his ex-wife.
The wrongful dismissal suit says he was never told about any performance issues and also suggests the decision to eliminate his position was “clearly made months prior to his return to work” based on the fact that about three months after starting his medical leave — in November 2018, about two months before he was fired — he stopped by his office and found his name had been removed and the office had been emptied out.
In the lawsuit against the city, Marcellin is seeking $183,333 for breach of contract or the same amount for wrongful dismissal; $100,000 for mental anguish and injury to dignity, feelings and/or self-respect; $100,000 for punitive, aggravated and/or exemplary damages; as well as other items related to his pension, sick days, vacation days and benefits that he would have received during the 20-month notice period “had he not been wrongfully dismissed.”
“Hopefully city council reviews the matter, looks at it. I think it’d be awesome if they were to invite Marcel to speak at city council and share his perspectives,” said Millar.
“He’s not somebody who’s on one side, you know, claiming, you know, an extreme position. He’s just sharing what it’s like to be a professional alone as a visible minority in a mostly white kind of conservative establishment and what he went through. In the end, he’s just asking that he was treated fairly. And we hope this can resolve quickly.”
Marcellin’s lawsuit comes just over three months after the implementation of the Respectful Workplace Policy at the City of London. The policy was created in response to a workplace culture scandal that prompted the city to hire a firm to conduct a third-party review of the City of London’s harassment and discrimination policies that saw 49 per cent of respondents reporting that they had experienced harassment, discrimination, bullying, intimidation and/or reprisal in the workplace.
— with files from Global News Radio 980 CFPL’s Sawyer Bogdan.