Interior Health's former Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Albert de Villiers received $90,000 in paid leave compensation after he was charged with sexual assault crimes in Alberta.
Image Credit: Submitted/Interior Health
August 31, 2022 - 12:00 PM
Interior Health didn't fire its former chief medical health officer when he was charged with child sexual assault charges from Alberta, he was put on paid leave and later returned to the job.
The first batch of charges were laid in June 2021, but Dr. Albert Stefanus de Villiers returned to work at Interior Health four months later.
He returned on Oct. 4, 2021, reassigned to "project medical health officer duties," according to the health authority's most recent financial compensation records.
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de Villiers was charged on June 8, 2021, in Grande Prairie, Alberta, with sexual assault and sexual interference against a person under the age of 16, alleged to have occurred between June 15, 2018, and July 31, 2020.
More charges related to sexual abuse of underage victims were laid earlier this month, alleged to have occurred between January 2017 and December 2019.
de Villiers worked as a lead medical health officer for Alberta Health from 2016 to 2020, then started working for Interior Health later in 2020.
The Alberta Health Services website shows no record of severance or termination.
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At Interior Health, de Villiers earned $189,958 in salary payments during the 2021/2022 fiscal year, ending March 2022. He earned an additional $90,094 in paid leave during that time.
After his benefits and pension, de Villiers earned a total $361,656 in compensation during that period. His replacement, chief medical health officer Dr. Sue Pollock, earned $389,359 in the same time period.
de Villiers was on paid leave from June 9, 2021, to Oct. 3, 2021, before he was reassigned to "administrative duties" within the health authority, according to an Interior Health spokesperson.
The health authority spokesperson didn't provide more information about de Villiers's current employment status due to privacy obligations, adding that its employment policies align with both federal and provincial legislation.
He's scheduled to stand trial in January 2023 in Grande Prairie. It's not clear whether the crimes he's accused of occurred within the workplace or a healthcare setting.
— This story was updated at 12:20 p.m., Aug. 31, 2022, with information from Interior Health.
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