On October 10, UTSU approved an undisclosed settlement with Sandra Hudson, former UTSU executive director, for improperly paid overtime hours.
The lawsuit, filed in 2015, included former president Yolen Bollo-Kamara and former vice-president internal and services Cameron Wathey in the allegations. The lawsuit called for $200,000 in payments due to a breach of fiduciary duty. Hudson was terminated from the UTSU without cause in April 2014.
Bollo-Kamara and Wathey were both involved in the decision. As previously reported by The Medium in September 2015, Hudson received six weeks’ salary after her termination notice, five weeks’ vacation, eight weeks in benefit coverage, and $97,026.93 claimed in overtime hours.
Hudson was also served with fraud allegations, which included the deletion of confidential information off the executive director’s hard drive.
“On October 10, 2017, the University of Toronto Students’ Union Board of Directors approved a settlement with former UTSU Executive Director Sandra Hudson of the various claims made by the parties against each other in the two lawsuits,” read a public statement released by the UTSU. “Ms. Hudson has voluntarily agreed to repay a portion of the overtime payments which were approved by members of a prior executive committee.”
The amount of payments being repaid was undisclosed in the statement.
The Black Liberations Collective previously alleged that the UTSU harbours anti-black sentiments and urged the UTSU to drop their lawsuit against Hudson, suggesting the lawsuit was motivated by race.
“UTSU acknowledges that the allegations of fraud and theft against Ms. Hudson were not proven. Hudson acknowledges that UTSU believes that it had a reasonable basis to start a lawsuit. All parties believe that the lawsuit was not racially motivated. All parties regret the acrimonious nature of these proceedings and inflammatory public comments made in and about them,” concluded the UTSU’s statement.
Bollo-Kamra, one of the three defendants in the lawsuit had previously settled with UTSU in January 2016, while Cameron Wathey, the second defendant, settled in May 2016.
The Medium was unable to reach Matthias Memmel, UTSU president, for comment as of press time.
