Fired college instructor's appeal seeks $200,000 in damages

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A former Maritime College of Forest Technology instructor, awarded over $50,000 by a trial judge for the manner of his dismissal, is asking for more than $200,000 in an appeal.

Rod Cumberland, who also ran in a provincial election with the People’s Alliance of New Brunswick, was fired from his job in 2019 after seven years with the college.

Court of King’s Bench Judge Tracy DeWare ruled in Cumberland’s favour that the college should have given him fair warning before the termination. She awarded him just over $50,000 for lost compensation and legal fees. However, she disagreed that punitive and moral damages were necessary.

In a January submission to Fredericton’s Court of Appeal, Cumberland argues DeWare’s ruling didn’t go far enough – asking instead for 12 months’ pay, $100,000 in moral damages and $100,000 in punitive damages.

His filing disputes much of DeWare’s decision, arguing it erred 12 times and did not consider several factors around the termination.

Cumberland submits that the college’s conduct was a “months-long clandestine effort to build a case for termination,” rather than “sloppy” management of the firing as stated in DeWare’s written decision.

“The appellant submits that the very act of building a secret discipline file against an employee for several months, dredging the waters looking for anything to make the employee look bad with the goal of termination, constitutes bad faith conduct,” the submission reads.

The submission also argues DeWare erred by failing to consider that the termination letter “included numerous patently baseless allegations of just cause as a relevant factor of bad faith treatment,” finding the instructor was “creating a toxic atmosphere,” and “failing to consider relevant factors for fixing the reasonable notice period.”

In its submission to the appeals court, the college asks for the matter to be dismissed with costs.

“The appellant’s submission has very little legal analysis. Instead, it appears to be asking this court to overturn virtually every factual issue decided by Chief Justice Deware over the eight day trial,” it reads.

“The chief justice made a number of factual determinations pertaining to Mr. Cumberland’s conduct towards students, colleagues and management of MCFT. Given these findings, the respondent submits that the plea for moral or punitive damages is absurd.”

The appeal pivots away from the main allegation in Cumberland’s initial filing with the Court of King’s Bench in 2019, that he was fired due to his public views on glyphosate use in the forestry industry.

But the college responded by alleging the instructor was fired for being insubordinate to staff and making homophobic and sexist comments toward students.

The matter was heard on Tuesday, but the court had yet to issue a decision as of Friday afternoon.

“Mr. Cumberland was pleased with the appeal as it seemed that the court engaged with much of the evidence that seemed to be overlooked by the trial judge,” his lawyer, Paul Champ, said when contacted by Brunswick News this week.

Brunswick News did not receive a response from the college.