Former employees apply for class-action lawsuit against Interior Health over stolen identities

Andrew Kurjata · CBC News

· Posted: May 23, 2025 5:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Two erstwhile employees person filed an exertion for a people enactment suit against Interior Health successful the B.C. Supreme Court.

The lawsuit, filed May 22, alleges the leader was reckless and tried to conceal the afloat grade of the information breach that resulted successful the idiosyncratic accusation of thousands of employees being stolen and past sold connected the acheronian web.

As a result, it says, those affected didn't person the accidental to afloat support themselves — and they are inactive surviving with the consequences.

"The effects of this information breach person been life-altering," said Justin Giovannetti, the lawyer representing the 2 erstwhile employees. "Identities person been stolen, utilized to perpetrate fraud."

The suit has yet to beryllium certified, and nary of the allegations person been proven successful court.

CBC News contacted Interior Health for a effect earlier this week and was told it was not alert of the lawsuit. No effect has been filed successful court.

Thousands impacted

The breach occurred successful oregon astir December 2009, the suit states, affecting employees who worked for Interior Health betwixt 2003 and 2009.

But it says, adjacent arsenic of May 2025, the afloat grade of what happened has yet to beryllium shared.

LISTEN | The Fifth Estate big Mark Kelley connected the investigation: 

One of the employees successful the suit, Rae Fergus, says they lone became alert of the breach aft being informed of it by a erstwhile colleague.

The other, Susan Shaw, says she learned astir it on April 15, 2025, aft speechmaking astir it successful a quality article. She says she past contacted Interior Health and was told she had been affected.

April 15 is the day a CBC The Fifth Estate investigation revealed that much than 28,000 radical who had worked for Interior Health had been impacted by the breach, with personal accusation including societal security numbers, commencement dates and location addresses being posted online, for merchantability connected the acheronian web.

Victims identified by The Fifth Estate were victims of fraud, ranging from having bogus taxation returns filed successful their sanction to 1 who was listed arsenic the sole manager of 2 federally registered ammunition companies.

The plaintiffs successful the lawsuit accidental they person had fraudulent car loans and recognition paper applications taken retired successful their name, and picture the accent of trying to cleanable it up.

The suit besides alleges that throughout, Interior Health failed to proactively disclose the afloat grade of the breach, including its seriousness, some publically and to affected employees, calling it "fraudulent concealment."

Interior Health offering recognition monitoring

Following media reports of the breach successful April, Interior Health enactment retired a nationalist connection outlining the steps it had taken to scope the affected employees.

It said it learned of the imaginable breach successful January 2025 aft getting accusation from the RCMP that an employee's idiosyncratic accusation had been stolen.

In March, it enactment retired a quality merchandise asking anyone who worked for them betwixt 2003 and 2009 to interaction a toll-free fig to find if they had been affected based connected the documentation provided by the RCMP.

The connection said that portion Interior Health was moving to interaction each existent employees directly, it was incapable to bash truthful for erstwhile employees due to the fact that it nary longer had their interaction information.

It besides said it was offering 2 years of recognition monitoring to anyone affected.

Lawsuit needs certification to determination forward

Giovanetti says portion of the anticipation of the suit is to widen the recognition monitoring owed to the anticipation of the leaked accusation impacting individuals for years to come.

If the suit is certified, radical affected by the breach volition person an accidental to opt retired but volition different beryllium represented successful the case.

He encouraged anyone who worked for the wellness authorization betwixt 2003 and 2009 to cheque if they had been affected by the breach and, if they had, to instrumentality steps to support themselves.

"This is 28,000 individuals who may have been impacted for the past 15 years," helium said. "There's a fiscal toll connected people, but there's besides a intelligence toll."