Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Predator Ridge

A former IT manager at Predator Ridge is suing the resort after it fired him while he was in the middle of playing golf for using the wrong discount voucher to book the deal for him and his friends.

Wayde Pawulski filed a Notice of Claim in the B.C. Supreme Court Nov. 3, alleging he was wrongfully dismissed by Predator Ridge and that he was humiliated and embarrassed by being accused of theft and dishonesty in such a public manner.

According to the court documents, Pawulski, 45, had worked at the resort for 11 years, after being headhunted and had no prior discipline record.

The Notice of Claim says every year for the last eight years Pawulski had organized a trip to Predator Ridge for a group of his friends to stay at the hotel and play golf.

This year, Pawulski did the same thing, registering the dates and time of the round of golf in the company computer under "staff."

While it is not abundantly clear in the court documents, it appears the booking was then supposed to be changed from the "staff" rate to a different rate using employee coupons.

"All of this was done by members of the golf team or employees of Predator Ridge other than Pawulski," reads the document.

However, for some reason the discount code that was used to book Pawulski's friends was incorrect.

The court documents say but Pawulski had no way of knowing the rates were wrong or that his guests were "accidentally and unintentionally" registered as "staff."

On the afternoon of Aug. 7, Pawulski was playing golf with the group of friends he was hosting when he was "pulled from the golf course by Predator Ridge" and accused of theft and dishonesty.

Pawulski was then fired on the spot.

"This occurred publicly and was callous and humiliating and embarrassing," reads the Notice of Claim.

"The approach taken by Predator Ridge was procedurally flawed and unfair. Pawulski was provided with no effective opportunity to respond to any allegations against him and properly explain the situation," the court documents say. "(Predator Ridge) blindly ignored the fact that he had been enjoying drinks with his friends on the golf course only a short while earlier and his ability to rebut its accusation of theft and dishonesty might have been impaired by alcohol."

The Notice claim goes on to say Pawulski was further humiliated and embarrassed as Predator Ridge then forced him to return to his friends on the golf course and tell them they had to leave.

The court documents say Pawulski had followed the same process to book golf for his friends for the last eight years, he'd been approved to use the vouchers by the general manager, and he'd never been told it was not acceptable practice.

Pawulski said he was not responsible for inputting the final rates into the computer system "and he did not abuse or misuse his access to the system in order to effect any changes himself."

The documents also say that on the same day Pawulski was fired, another staff member used a voucher with permission to play golf at a peak time. Pawulski points out that he'd changed his booking several times to avoid taking the peak time slots and negatively affecting the company's bottom line.

"To add to the egregiousness of the situation, Pawulski has yet to receive a termination letter from Predator Ridge," the documents say. The company is also refusing to pay any of his annual bonus which he says was a "substantial and integral" part of his overall income.

In the Notice of Claim Pawulski claims damages for breach of his employment contract and wrongful dismissal. No dollar amount is listed on the documents.

None of the accusations have been proved in court and Predator Ridge has yet to file a response.

Predator Ridge did not respond to our request for comment.

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