SYDNEY, N.S. — An appeal of job dismissal by the former economic development manager for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality has been rejected.
In an order issued Wednesday, Justice Carole Beaton of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal dismissed the claim at the request of the court registrar in accordance with a provision in the civil procedure rules.
The rules read: “In an appeal not perfected before 80 days from the date of the filing of the notice of appeal, or before any other time ordered by a judge, the registrar must make a motion to a judge for an order to dismiss the appeal on five days notice to the parties.”
The appeal, by former manager John Whalley, was filed with the high court in Halifax on Dec. 31, 2018. However, necessary documents and other information were not forthcoming from Whalley’s defence counsel, which resulted in the registrar requesting the court dismiss the appeal.
Whalley first launched his suit against the municipality in Supreme Court and, after a hearing, Justice Patrick Murray ruled last December that the former manager left the job on his own accord and was not constructively dismissed as claimed.
Murray said Whalley resigned his position on the same day he was told by former CBRM chief operating officer Michael Merritt that he would no longer be working on the Port of Sydney file.
The judge agreed with the municipality’s position that Whalley “hastily and unnecessarily made the decision to quit” and that he “was not pushed out or fired.”
“I do not find that Mr. Whalley’s decision to quit was reasonable … moreover, I do not find it resulted in a breach of his employment contract,” said the judge.
Whalley then filed an appeal of the Murray decision to the appeal court.
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