Vaughan deputy mayor eligible for severance despite sexual harassment finding

YorkRegion.com
May 23, 2017
Adam Martin-Robbins

Vaughan Deputy Mayor Michael Di Biase could pocket several months in severance pay despite abruptly resigning last week after the integrity commissioner found he sexually harassed a city employee.

The revelation came Tuesday, May 23 during a special committee of the whole meeting held to address Integrity Commissioner Suzanne Craig’s damning 28-page report, released on the city’s website Thursday, May 18.

Maple/Kleinburg Coun. Marilyn Iafrate asked a number of pointed questions after Craig outlined the findings of an investigation into Di Biase’s conduct, triggered by a city employee’s complaint filed in January.

Among her questions was whether Di Biase, who served on council nearly 30 years including a stint as mayor from 2000 to 2006, is entitled to severance pay.

Claudia Storto, Vaughan’s deputy city manager of legal and human resources, said a review of the city’s policies revealed he’s eligible for such a payout.

But it’s unclear, at this point, how much money he might get and whether he'd accept it.

The city’s policy, established in May 2004, states that as of Dec. 1, 2003 any councillor who loses an election, completes a term of council and chooses not to run again or resigns his or her seat for any reason, is entitled to one month’s pay for each year of consecutive service up to a maximum of 24 months.

Councillors don’t receive severance if they’re removed from office “by operation of the law,” including being elected to federal or provincial office, or if they resign but would have been removed “by the operation of the law,” the policy says.

The integrity commissioner can impose penalties, including suspending a councillor’s pay for up to 90 days, but she doesn’t have the power to remove a councillor from office.

A councillor can, however, opt out of receiving a severance.

The city hasn’t disclosed exactly how much money Di Biase is eligible to receive.

After two decades in office, Di Biase lost the 2006 mayoral election. He returned to office as a regional councillor in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014 with enough votes to vault him into the deputy mayor's seat. 

Di Biase wasn’t at the meeting and neither he nor his lawyer could be reached for comment about whether he’ll accept or decline severance pay. 

But he has repeatedly denied the allegations made against him both in his submissions to the integrity commissioner during her investigation and in his public statement after the report was released.

“While I have throughout maintained my innocence, I do not wish to be a distraction from the important work that is ahead for our council in protecting the interests of this city,” he said in a statement issued last Thursday announcing his resignation.

None of the allegations detailed in the integrity commissioner’s report have been tested in court.

In her affidavit to the integrity commissioner, the complainant alleged Di Biase sexually harassed her multiple times between March and July 2016.

“In each case, the respondent is alleged to have kissed the mouth of the complainant, without her consent and despite her objections. In four cases, the respondent also touched her breasts,” Craig wrote in her report.

The complainant also recorded a phone conversation she reportedly had with Di Biase on July 20, the day after one of the alleged instances of harassment.

Craig’s report includes excerpts from the recording, including an exchange where Di Biase said, “... I will not do this anymore. But if you want to touch my breast, you can touch my breast. I give you my permission. How’s that?”

“I take note of the respondent’s acknowledgement of the events, a lack of emphatic denial and the cavalier way he responded to the complainant’s accusations,” Craig wrote in her report. “This is not the response I would expect from someone who is innocent of these allegations. Further, I find comments such as this to be patronizing and dismissive.”

In his response to the allegations in the report, Di Biase said he "has been the victim of entrapment.”

“The respondent (Di Biase) acknowledges that they kissed on the lips on several occasions, but that these acts were either initiated by the complainant or that it was consensual,” Craig’s report states. “The respondent, otherwise, denies touching the complainant’s breasts or otherwise touching her inappropriately.”

Based on her findings, Craig concluded Di Biase’s actions “constitute sexual harassment and a breach of Rule 14 of the Code (of Ethical Conduct), which prohibits such harassment.”

Three of eight city councillors spoke out about the integrity commissioner's findings at Tuesday’s meeting before voting to receive the report.

“I want to thank the complainant for having the courage to come forward and bring to light what I consider to be a most despicable act that far too often continues to take place in the workplace,” Iafrate said.

Thornhill Councillor Alan Shefman expressed similar sentiments.

“I think this is indeed a sad day for the city,” he said. “The report we have before us documents behaviour that is absolutely, in every way, abhorrent. As a member of this council, I would like to apologize to our employee who received the treatment described in the commissioner’s report. I’d also like to apologize to all the women employees of the city for having to work in an environment where sexual harassment has taken place, that is unacceptable.”

Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua - sitting beside Di Biase’s empty chair, where the nameplate had been blacked out - said “without exception, anyone who works for the City of Vaughan must be treated fairly ... in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and reprisal.”

Lifelong Vaughan resident Furio Liberatore, who has been critical of Di Biase about a proposed development impacting his property, expressed in a letter to council what others have said online and in emails.

“The sexual harassment findings that were brought forward by the City of Vaughan integrity commissioner came with great shock and disappointment,” he wrote. “To say that I am extremely disappointed by our deputy mayor, Michael Di Biase, is a great understatement. … My thoughts go out to the victim and (I) commend her for being so brave to come forward to tell her story.”