By Stephanie MacFarlane
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The hearing to hear the psychological harassment cases involving former mayor Alain Laplante, which was scheduled for Friday, has been postponed to a later date. According to our information, this postponement is explained by the fact that the parties reached an agreement in principle on Wednesday in the two remaining files, namely that of François Lapointe and François Vaillancourt.
Thursday afternoon, the City of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu could not confirm or deny the conclusion of amicable agreements. In the event that the parties have come to such an agreement, a special meeting must be convened to authorize their signatures.
The complaints were to be heard at a hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Friday at the Administrative Labor Tribunal (TAT) in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. The date of the new hearing is not yet known.
Remember that earlier this week, an agreement in principle was reached between the City of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Sylvain Latour. The elected officials held a special meeting on April 5 to authorize the clerk and legal counsel to sign the agreement and all the documents necessary to finalize the transaction.
In the event that an agreement reached has not been negotiated within the framework of the conciliation offered by the TAT, the judge would not need to ratify it. At that time, the parties could ask to abandon some or all of the actions.
Complaints
Former civil servants François Lapointe, Sylvain Latour and François Vaillancourt allege that they suffered psychological harassment from Alain Laplante in the performance of their duties. They filed five complaints with the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) to denounce events that allegedly occurred in the spring and fall of 2019.
More details in the April 14 edition of the newspaper the French Canada.
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