Former head of OLG sues and gets 750 grand settlement

[james t kirk]

The firing of the scandal-plagued Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation's chief will end up costing taxpayers $747,925.

Kelly McDougald, who was suing the Ontario government for wrongful dismissal, reached the cash settlement through out-of-court negotiations, the lottery corporation announced Thursday.

The deal was negotiated with the aid of retired justice Coulter Osborne, who also served as the province's integrity commissioner.

Under terms of the deal — other terms of which were not revealed — McDougald must drop her lawsuit to get the cash, which is almost double her annual salary of $400,000.

McDougald, who portrayed herself as a political scapegoat, had been seeking $8.85 million.

She was fired last fall as the government faced increased political heat over a spending scandal at OLG, which came on top of the eHealth Ontario debacle, where contracts did not go to competitive bids and consultants paid as much as $3,000 a day expensed tea and cookies to taxpayers.

Opposition parties warned the firing could end up costing taxpayers more than if McDougald had been given a package.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/742624--former-olg-chief-settles-dismissal-suit?bn=1

 

[james t kirk]

I remember saying when she was fired that it was bullshit that she was a political target, that someone didn't like her and played the old "Expense Claim Card".

I remember reading about all the supposed high expense claims and thinking that they were chicken shit frankly.

Now some moron in the government somewhere has cost the government 750 grand. All because of a bottle of wine at dinner? and hotel rooms at the Sutton Place?

Give me a break.

 

[Anynym]

Now some moron in the government somewhere has cost the government 750 grand. All because of a bottle of wine at dinner? and hotel rooms at the Sutton Place?

Give me a break.

There are plenty of allegations around that OLG was not competently run. Unfortunately, rather than document and prove the allegations, it appears that it was more expedient to claim the allegations were false.

 

[nova5]

The firing of the scandal-plagued Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation's chief will end up costing taxpayers $747,925.

Kelly McDougald, who was suing the Ontario government for wrongful dismissal, reached the cash settlement through out-of-court negotiations, the lottery corporation announced Thursday.

The deal was negotiated with the aid of retired justice Coulter Osborne, who also served as the province's integrity commissioner.

Under terms of the deal — other terms of which were not revealed — McDougald must drop her lawsuit to get the cash, which is almost double her annual salary of $400,000.

McDougald, who portrayed herself as a political scapegoat, had been seeking $8.85 million.

She was fired last fall as the government faced increased political heat over a spending scandal at OLG, which came on top of the eHealth Ontario debacle, where contracts did not go to competitive bids and consultants paid as much as $3,000 a day expensed tea and cookies to taxpayers.

Opposition parties warned the firing could end up costing taxpayers more than if McDougald had been given a package.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/742624--former-olg-chief-settles-dismissal-suit?bn=1

--
It is not a surprise to me that she won an out-of-court settlement and this was very predictable.

 

[Fireseal]

--
It is not a surprise to me that she won an out-of-court settlement and this was very predictable.

She didn't win as in a judgement. Besides, even if it had gone to court and she lost, it would probably have ended up costing millions in lawyers...

 

[Keebler Elf]

I remember saying when she was fired that it was bullshit that she was a political target, that someone didn't like her and played the old "Expense Claim Card".

I remember reading about all the supposed high expense claims and thinking that they were chicken shit frankly.

Now some moron in the government somewhere has cost the government 750 grand. All because of a bottle of wine at dinner? and hotel rooms at the Sutton Place?

Close, but not quite.

She was a political target. But that's because the OLG was not cleaning up its act as it had been explicitly directed to do by the government. In fact, that was her job to oversee. I suspect the expenses situation had become part of the OLG's culture and was too difficult to get removed; thus the drastic action by the government.

It was definitely a political move as the government wanted/needed to take action before the newspapers did.

For the government, $750K was probably worth it in terms of image (i.e., "We turfed her ass out the door") and it definitely saved money in terms of the court battle.

The weird part of all this is that expensing muffins led to the uproar so now people have to expense an entire meal to get reimbursed. In other words, more people will not spend the maximum just to get reimbursed for a minimal expense.

It's a classic cyclical overreaction.

 

[spankingman]

--
It is not a surprise to me that she won an out-of-court settlement and this was very predictable.

A LOT cheaper than going to Court for a couple of years piling up Lawyers fee's and all.