The B.C. government claims in court documents that a Health Ministry employee who is suing for wrongful dismissal improperly shared data, ordered emails destroyed and breached conflict-of-interest rules to benefit her husband and their company.
Rebecca Nunn Warburton, former co-director of research in the Health Ministry, is suing the province and the health minister for wrongful dismissal and breach of contract.
Warburton is one of seven Health Ministry employees fighting their dismissals as the result of an ongoing Health Ministry investigation. The probe began in May 2012 over allegations of conflict of interest and inappropriate conduct, data management and contracting out focused on the ministry’s pharmaceutical services division. Warburton’s husband, William Warburton, a contractor, had his access to Health Ministry data revoked last June and is also suing the province and its heath minister.
Rebecca Warburton’s suit, filed in B.C. Supreme Court on March 8, alleged she was given almost no information about her suspension on July 16, 2012, and that her treatment “was calculated by the defendants to inflict, and did inflict, emotional and economic injury.”
The government’s response to the civil claim, filed in court May 2, alleges the plaintiff was dismissed “for cause” in a letter dated Oct. 23, 2012, and “if the plaintiff has suffered any loss or damages, which is not admitted, but expressly denied, then the plaintiff has failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate that loss or those damages.”
The government’s response in court documents alleges Rebecca Warburton provided data and information to unauthorized third parties, at least twice ordered emails destroyed, improperly used her position as a bureaucrat to benefit her husband and a family business, and failed to disclose conflict-of-interest issues. The former Health Ministry co-director worked part-time for a salary of $42,000. She is also a University of Victoria associate professor of public administration.
In its response to her civil claim, the government alleges:
• In breach of conflict-of-interest rules, Warburton “engaged in numerous communications with her husband which improperly benefited her husband and a company owned and controlled by the plaintiff, or her husband, or both of them to obtain or attempt to obtain, contract work with the Health Ministry.”
• As an applicant for the ministry’s co-director position, Warburton failed to disclose to the hiring committee that she had a personal relationship with a panel member and was related to the panel member by marriage (Warburton’s husband is a second cousin of Malcolm Maclure, the Health Ministry’s other co-director of research, based at the University of B.C., who is now also fighting his dismissal.)
Another set of allegations in the government’s claim involve an unnamed co-op student who was writing a PhD thesis at UVic, where Warburton acted as his PhD supervisor.
Roderick MacIsaac, 46, a UVic co-op student and PhD candidate, was one of the seven people fired as part of the Health Ministry’s investigation. He has since died. MacIsaac was evaluating the safety, effectiveness and cost efficiency of the B.C. government’s smoking-cessation program, which provides two drugs free of charge — one of which, Champix, is the subject of a class-action suit in Canada.
In court documents, the government alleges that Rebecca Warburton:
• Improperly arranged for and directed the co-op employee to use Health Ministry data “for purposes other than his employment with the province, including the co-op employee’s PhD thesis.” The government claims the PhD student did not have authorization to use such data.
• Knew, or ought to have known, the data containing “sensitive personal information” was being transmitted by certain Health Ministry employees and the co-op student via “an unencrypted flash drive in breach of the policies and procedures of the province.”
None of the allegations has been proven in court.
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