Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 13/02) - Severance payments to former aides of Premier Stephen Kakfwi will be reviewed by the federal auditor general.

The move came late Tuesday as Great Slave MLA Bill Braden introduced a motion to request the special audit.

All regular MLAs supported the motion with the exception of Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee, who voted against it. Cabinet abstained.

The auditor general reports directly to the legislative assembly. The review is not expected to be complete until the fall.

Braden's motion ended days of debate on $514,509 in compensation and benefits paid out to former chief of staff Lynda Sorensen, former principal secretary John Bayly and their secretaries. The two senior staffers resigned late last year after a committee investigating a conflict complaint against Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen recommended they be fired.

During debate Monday, Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent said the government should have not have included a payment to avoid legal action in the severance package it paid Sorensen.

Dent said a court ruling last year indicates former chief of staff Lynda Sorensen was entitled to no more settlement than that outlined in her employment contract.

"Why didn't we just say, 'Well, if you're going to sue us, we'll see you in court,'" said the MLA for Frame Lake on Monday.

In overturning a lower court decision, a three-judge panel of the Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal ruled that employees dismissed without cause are entitled to no more than that stipulated in their employment contracts, if the contracts provide for dismissals without cause.

Sorensen denied getting extra pay.

"I got exactly what was stipulated in my employment agreement," Sorensen said Tuesday, "I assure you the government didn't give me any more than it had to."

Sorensen said she would not discuss details of either agreement.

Citing confidentiality clauses included in the settlements and privacy laws, Finance Minister Joe Handley and cabinet secretary Liz Snider have refused to provide specific details of the termination agreements.

But Handley said "at pleasure" employment contracts such as the ones Bayly and Sorensen had typically provided a minimum of a year's salary and a maximum of two year's salary when employees are dismissed without cause.

According to a description Premier Kakfwi gave MLAs of the chief of staff's contract, Sorensen would be entitled to a month's salary for every year of service if dismissed without cause.

The settlement would be for a minimum of one year and a maximum of two years' salary.

Last Friday, Handley said that was just part of the settlement negotiated for Sorensen -- "The second piece that is taken into consideration in these kinds of circumstances is the need to try to avoid legal liability."