Former police officer sues City of Winnipeg, claiming workplace was toxic

A former Winnipeg police officer says her request to transfer to another division was unfairly spurned, she was subjected to malicious accusations by colleagues, and the workplace became intolerable, resulting in her "constructive dismissal."

Belinda Duncan is suing the City of Winnipeg, as the body in charge on the police service, for damages she claims she suffered and continues to suffer due to a toxic workplace.

Duncan, described in the lawsuit as a woman of colour, worked for the police service for 21½ years before her employment as senior constable ended in April 2022. Her lawsuit, filed in the Court of King's Bench on June 28, claims she was subjected to bias, systemic discrimination and employment inequality.

A spokesperson with the City of Winnipeg said the city cannot comment on the lawsuit while it is before the courts. A statement of defence has not yet been filed.

Duncan's claim says she applied for a lateral transfer to the police service's community relations diversity unit in December 2017. She was informed the following March that she was not selected, even though she was a senior officer to all the successful candidates.

When she asked about the reason for the decision, Duncan says the inspector of the community engagement unit, Bonnie Emerson, said "you are not the right fit for the direction in which the service is looking to head as a whole."

Duncan filed an appeal of the decision in March and during a meeting with deputy police chief Art Stannard and representation from her union, she claims Stannard promised she would be transferred to the diversity unit in 2019. She says she asked him to put it in writing but he refused.

In April, Duncan was offered a temporary assignment in the school education section for the fall and told she would be given priority for selection to the diversity unit in 2019, the lawsuit claims.

But then she became the subject of two complaints filed with the police service.

One complaint was filed in May by Const. Maria Buduhan, who alleged Duncan was spreading rumours about her personal life and work experience. Buduhan was one of three people selected for transfer to the diversity unit ahead of Duncan. 

The other complaint was filed by Emerson in August. She accused Duncan of disrespectful and insubordinate behaviour.

A decision was made in July that Duncan breached the respectful workplace standard in regard to the Buduhuan complaint, although the lawsuit claims that Duncan never got an unredacted copy of the complaint and that it wasn't thoroughly investigated.

The Emerson complaint was referred to the police service's professional standards unit.

As a result of the two complaints, Duncan was not put in the temporary assignment with schools, her statement of claim says.

In September, Duncan was told by a police service labour relations investigator that Emerson received an email in which she was called a racist by Duncan. Duncan asked to see the email but it wasn't given to her, the statement of claim says.

Complaint dismissed

In March 2019, despite the July 2018 decision that Duncan had breached the respectful workplace standard in the Buduhan complaint, the city decided there was insufficient evidence in both of the respectful workplace complaints to support a charge against Duncan under its regulations.

The same month, the police professional standards unit dismissed the Emerson complaint completely, saying it was incomplete and procedurally flawed.

Duncan's lawsuit claims she was subjected to false and malicious accusations, but nevertheless, it was recommended that she not be transferred to the diversity unit, where Buduhan was assigned.

Duncan claims that several times she asked the union to grieve her matters, but the union failed to do so.

She continued to work as a senior constable but took a stress leave from July to October 2019, and again from November 2021 until April 2022.

The lawsuit says Duncan was left in "an intolerable workplace," and although she tried to address it, her employer and union failed to make things better.

In late April 2022, it became clear to Duncan that would not be able to return to her duties, and she was forced to retire, which amount to being "constructively dismissed" by the police service, the lawsuit claims.

Officers receive a full pension after 25 years. Duncan, who was 3½ years shy of that mark, was given a reduced pension.

Duncan claims the police service breached its fiduciary duty by failing to properly investigate complaints, failing to provide her with the information required to respond to the complaints, reneging on a verbal promise, subjecting her to a toxic workplace and failing to make honest effort to resolve her concerns.

The lawsuit seeks compensation to be determined at a trial.