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A Vernon resident is accusing the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association of bullying and harassment and trying to get her to sign away her employment rights after she went off sick.

According to a Notice of Claim filed at the Vernon courthouse June 26, former counsellors association employee Tammy Frater accused the not-for-profit organization of "high-handed callous conduct" in firing her after six years with the organization.

Frater, who worked there from 2016 to 2022, is suing for an undisclosed amount for wrongful dismissal and loss of benefits, along with aggravated and bad faith damages.

"The conduct of the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association toward Ms. Frater in the course and aftermath of (her) dismissal was harsh, vindictive, reprehensible and malicious conduct of an extreme nature worthy of punishment," the court documents said.

The court documents said Frater worked for the Vernon-based organization, that regulators counsellors registered with it, as a clerk generally working 35 hours a week.

She claimed she was subjected to bullying and harassment in the workplace and complained about her treatment to the organization in January 2022.

A few months later she went on medical leave and was off for two months.

However, when she returned to work she found the counsellors association had employed someone else to do her work.

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The same day as she returned to work, the association told her it was terminating her position and offered her a new job at just 10 hours a week.

The court documents said she didn't accept the "inferior position" and continued her gradual return to work doing four hours a day.

A few months later, she was given medical clearance to work six hours a day and told the counsellors association but it didn't respond.

A couple of weeks later, she received a letter stating the association had not constructively dismissed her, but she was given a new job description binding her to a six-hour a-day, four-day week.

Two months later she was terminated without cause.

The Notice of Claim says she was paid six weeks' pay in lieu of notice based on four hours a day, and not the six hours a day she'd been medically cleared for.

"Immediately following the termination of Ms. Frater, the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association once again offered Ms. Frater new employment on substantially inferior terms," the court documents said. 

However, she didn't accept this offer.

"The Canadian Professional Counsellors Association, aware that Ms. Frater was returning from a medical leave... attempted to have Ms. Frater sign away significant employment rights on the first day of her gradual return to work," the court documents said.

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Frater said the organization failed to investigate her bullying and harassment claim and instead conducted an investigation into her.

"The Canadian Professional Counsellors Association failed to abide by the terms of the contract and increase Ms. Frater's hours of work in the course of the gradual return to work and attempted to force her into a reduced capacity on a permanent basis in contravention of her contract," the Notice of Claim read.

The Canadian Professional Counsellors Association has not filed a statement of defence.

Neither Frater's lawyer nor the counsellors association returned a request for comment.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

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