Richmond Hill councillor Greg Beros ordered to pay town legal costs

Superior court rules on actions related to Beros and sexual harassment allegations

Yorkregion.com
April 30, 2017
By Kim Zarzour

A Richmond Hill councillor, who took the town to court over the way the municipality handled sexual harassment allegations against him, has been ordered to pay a portion of the town’s costs for his legal actions.

Ward 1 Councillor Greg Beros had argued he’d been vindicated after the female former employee - who initially came forward for a 2015 investigation - would not participate in a second investigation into the alleged harassment.

But in a ruling released Apr. 25, the Ontario superior court of justice divisional court said that Beros had not been vindicated and instead, must pay the town $15,000 for legal fees associated with his latest actions against the town.

The ruling stems from an investigation after a former staff member accused Beros of engaging, over a period of four years that she worked at the town, in a “pattern of sexual harassment and abusive conduct” towards her.

An external investigator in 2015 said that Beros refused to cooperate with the investigation and the report concluded “it was more likely than not” he had “engaged in conduct amounting to sexual harassment and abusive conduct”.

The town responded by imposing punitive sanctions against him, prohibiting him from accessing all areas of the town offices where employees perform work unless accompanied by a superior, and referring the issue to the Integrity Commissioner (IC) to determine if he had also violated the town’s Code of Conduct.
Beros filed a judicial review application seeking to quash the external investigator’s report and the town’s action’s against him, arguing the investigation was not done properly or fairly.

The town’s lawyer, Charles Loopstra, said the town was prepared to argue in court that the process was completely fair.

However, when the subsequent IC investigation concluded it could not rule on the matter because the former employee did not respond for a second investigation, Beros changed his approach.

He was no longer asking the court to quash the investigation and the town's actions against him, but for the court to rule the judicial review moot, and to force the town to pay him $43,000 for partial indemnity costs.