A lawyer formerly employed by Allan Vinni at the Allan Vinni Law Office is now suing her former boss over wages owed from the spring of this year.
Lianne Locke, said she was laid off on May 3 after the mandatory evacuation order was issued for all of Fort McMurray, although she never received a formal notification of the lay-off.
But her issues with payment from Vinni had started before the evacuation.
In a statement of claim filed June 27 with the Court of Queen’s Bench, Locke alleges that her earnings from April were due on May 1 and, despite having made a verbal inquiry about the payment, never received it.
According to the claim, Locke is seeking the money owed to her already, a total of $14,372.92, her share of any payments made to the firm as a result of her work during the period of her maternity leave, as well as her legal fees totalling $5,000 and $10,000 in punitive damages.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. Vinni has not responded to a request for comment.
According to her contract, Locke would be paid 50% of payments received by her law firm up to $400,000 per calendar year. Any payments above that sum would be hers entirely.
Locke has not received her share of payments for work she completed made during April, May, or June of this year. Locke said she doesn’t know exactly how much she is owed for May and June because Vinni will not return her calls or emails.
Locke said she has reached out to the media about her lawsuit in the hopes her former employer will communicate with her. She had been an associate lawyer with Vinni’s firm since April 2013.
Her claim states she has been kept out of the loop on at least one email to former and current staff, despite the fact she remained a temporarily laid off employee scheduled to begin maternity leave. One email she did receive on May 18 did acknowledge there was money owed to associate lawyers.
Locke said she wants to make it clear she will accept instalments for the pay owed to her.
“His business has suffered too because of the fire and I realize that,” she said.
Most importantly, Locke said, she wants her former boss to communicate with her so they can come to an arrangement for payment of the wages owed to her for her work with the firm. She also wants clarification on exactly what is owed to her.
The claim alleges that while Vinni, in his public role as a municipal councillor, had access to the office during the period of evacuation he, “failed to retrieve files or client information or take steps to assist the Plaintiff in continuing to meet her obligations as a lawyer.”
As well, according to Locke’s contract, the law firm is required to pay her fees for membership in the Law Society of Alberta, a necessary requirement for her to continue practicing as a lawyer in the province. They failed to pay those fees after Locke notified Vinni in January that she would be taking maternity leave as of May 27, her due date being August 6.
She paid the fees, a total of $2,646.00 and was reimbursed $1,102.50 from the Law Society because she would be taking maternity leave.
According to the Statement of Claim, ‘Vinni stated to the Plaintiff he did not have the funds and would not pay the total amount.” The firm did pay Locke $900 but that leaves $643.50 remaining.
These allegations are not connected to Vinni’s work as a councillor with the RMWB but only with his private practice and work associated with the Allan Vinni Professional Corporation, which was incorporated in November 2006, and for which Vinni is the sole director and shareholder. The Corporation has operated under the trade names of Allan Vinni Law Company, Allan Vinni Law Office, AVLO, and McMurray Law Office.
