Alberta Health Services calls wrongful dismissal suit filed by former CEO 'groundless and vexatious'

Janet French · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 14, 2025 5:47 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Alberta Health Services alleges the wrongful dismissal suit of the organization's erstwhile CEO is "groundless" and an effort to extract a larger severance payment.

In a connection of defence filed Friday successful Edmonton's Court of King's Bench, the provincial wellness bureau says it terminated erstwhile CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos due to the fact that she wasn't fulfilling her duties.

The assertion says Mentzelopoulos's suit successful effect to her January termination is "ill-founded, groundless and vexatious."

Mentzelopoulos, a erstwhile Alberta authorities worker who has served arsenic lawman curate of finance, filed the suit against AHS and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange past month.

She claims she was fired 2 days earlier she was scheduled to conscionable with Alberta's auditor wide astir surgical contracts she says had links to authorities officials. 

She alleges she was terminated, successful part, due to the fact that she had launched an probe and forensic audit and was reviewing the prices of surgical contracts. Her introspection was underway arsenic a declaration for orthopedic surgeries with Edmonton's Alberta Surgical Group (ASG) was acceptable to expire.

Her assertion says she had concerns astir conflicts of involvement successful procurement, and was politically pressured to widen contracts she disquieted weren't successful taxpayers' champion interests.

Mentzolopoulos widened the AHS investigations to see the wellness authority's procurement with aesculapian proviso institution MHCare. The institution secured a $70-million declaration successful 2022 to import children's symptom medicine from Turkey during a nationalist cause shortage. Much of the medicine has ne'er been delivered, and astir of the merchandise was ne'er utilized and is present being stored by AHS.

Her connection claims the AHS committee members were acrophobic capable astir her imaginable struggle of involvement findings that they recommended she instrumentality her findings to the RCMP.

Within days, Mentzelopoulos alleges a authorities authoritative ordered her to "wind up" her probe and transportation each the accusation astir contracting to Alberta Health.

Her allegations person not been tested successful court.

Lost confidence

In its Friday connection of defence, AHS says the enactment mislaid assurance successful Mentzelopoulos's abilities.

"The plaintiff's allegations that her employment was terminated due to the fact that of the probe and audit she initiated into assorted AHS surgical facilities contracts is simply a diversion from the plaintiff's ain inadequacies and the plaintiff is solely liable for the termination of her employment," the papers says.

AHS hired Mentzolopoulos successful December 2023 arsenic the authorities had begun breaking AHS into 4 caller organizations.

The state had planned to transportation immoderate of AHS functions, specified arsenic contracting, procurement, and accusation technology, to caller provincial entities. The program envisions AHS becoming a work transportation supplier focused connected acute care.

The connection of defence said though Mentzelopoulos was hired to pb this enactment for AHS, including the transportation of immoderate unit and duties to different agencies, she was allegedly ineffective successful the role.

The connection alleges Mentzelopoulos displayed an "alarming deficiency of strategical vision" that stood successful the mode of making reforms.

"The plaintiff's repeated unwillingness oregon outright refusal to conscionable the expectations and priorities acceptable by the wellness curate not lone stalled indispensable progress, but actively disrupted the operational and structural advancements required for the refocus plan," it said.

The connection alleges the erstwhile CEO refused to contiguous and equilibrium budgets, engaged successful "unprofessional conduct" with authorities employees, failed to relay accusation to the committee and pass changes to AHS staff, among different concerns.

AHS denies wrongdoing successful the statement, and says radical successful the enactment had nary cognition of immoderate of the communications betwixt Mentzelopoulos and authorities officials.

The bureau besides denies the wellness curate demanded the AHS committee to occurrence Mentzelopoulos oregon that the committee refused immoderate demand.

In a connection of defence filed successful tribunal connected Thursday, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange besides denied allegations levelled against the provincial government.

That assertion says Mentzelopoulos was unwilling to instrumentality the government's program to interruption isolated AHS, and became "infatuated" with the interior investigations into suspected wrongdoing.

Mentzelopoulos's lawyer Dan Scott said Friday that AHS and the authorities person "sidestepped cardinal issues … and are present attempting to smear" his client. He said determination had ne'er been immoderate proposition of show issues during her tenure arsenic CEO and president of AHS.

"Ms. Mentzelopouos was expressly terminated 'without cause' connected Jan. 8 by then-deputy curate [Andre] Tremblay…. She is looking guardant to filing her ceremonial reply successful effect to the defence, and she volition beryllium precise comfy proceeding to trial."

The Alberta RCMP and Alberta's auditor wide are present investigating the allegations. The state has appointed a erstwhile main justice from Manitoba to pb a third-party probe into procurement by AHS and Alberta Health.

It says Mentzelopoulos is entitled to much than $580,000 successful severance pay. The erstwhile enforcement is seeking a $1.7-million settlement. 

Both AHS and LaGrange are asking for the suit to beryllium dismissed and the plaintiff ordered to wage each ineligible costs.