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A Winnipeg woman is suing an international construction union, alleging she was wrongfully dismissed earlier this year after her father — a senior union member at the time — was accused of unapproved real estate deals.
Jaylyn Rowe, 32, started working for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 2008 as an administrative assistant, according to the lawsuit filed in Manitoba King’s Court of King’s Bench on July 17.
She’s the daughter of Jason Rowe, who resigned as head of the Carpenters’ Regional Council in May, according to the Globe and Mail, after the newspaper reported he spent two years living in a $4-million house in Ontario purchased by the organization.
The regional council represents about 30 local unions from B.C. to Ontario, and is among a number of unions overseen by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the Carpenters’ Regional Council and UBC Solutions Inc. — which provides administrative services to the Canadian union — are named as defendants in Jaylyn Rowe’s lawsuit.
She says in the lawsuit that she worked for 16 years for the defendants, starting as an administrative assistant in or around 2008.
The defendants “individually as well as collectively exercised significant control” over her employment, and as such any one could be considered her “true employer,” according to her lawsuit.
The lawsuit says Jaylyn Rowe was locked out of her work computer and cut off from her work accounts without explanation on May 19 of this year. At the time, she was working as the director of information technology, earning about $150,000 a year, plus benefits, her statement of claim says.
Around that time, several senior union employees — including her father — were being investigated for alleged unapproved real estate transactions done by or on behalf of the union, according to her lawsuit. Rowe says she had no involvement or knowledge of the transactions.
On or around May 28, after days without communication, the union told Rowe her employment was terminated for cause, effective immediately, though no specifics were given, the lawsuit says.
She received a termination letter, dated May 25, on or about May 29, the lawsuit says.
The letter said she was dismissed because she was not qualified and overcompensated for her job, and had acquired the role through nepotism, according to her statement of claim.
It also suggested she had acted dishonestly, misused funds and engaged in conflicts and self-dealing.
Rowe’s statement of claim denies the accusations, and says she was “continually praised for her work and was promoted on numerous occasions.”
Her suit says there was “no just cause for the termination of her employment.”
Rowe is seeking unspecified damages, including compensation for wages she would have received if she’d been given a “period of reasonable notice.”
None of the defendants responded to CBC’s requests for comment. No statement of defence has been filed and none of the allegations have been proven in court.