SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Upper and middle management for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation can get bigger bonuses if the company exceeds the projected net income for a given year, according to its employee union.

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation was in court last Friday, defending its right to withhold information on bonuses handed out in 2004 and 2005. The Union of Northern Workers took the corporation to court to retrieve access to the amounts and the structure in which the bonuses are given out. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

The Union of Northern Workers has filed a suit against the Northwest Territories Power Corporation to get access to information surrounding the corporation's "at-risk compensation" plan. The plan pays annual bonuses based on corporate and individual performance combined.

Lawyer Austin Marshall, representing the union, said he was not seeking personal information but wanted to know the amount of the bonuses in order to "advance the rights of the bargaining unit."

The compensation plan for senior management could give a bonus of up to 20 per cent of their salary, but could be higher if the corporation exceeded its projected annual net income for any given year. Marshall said in 2004 one senior manager received a $34,700 bonus, $3,500 more than the 20 per cent level - setting that senior manager's salary at approximately $155,000.

He said all senior management, including the CEO, who can receive up to 40 per cent of annual salary as a bonus, received more than the available percentage because the corporation made more money than expected.

The bonus plan is broken down into two categories - corporate and individual, 75 and 25 per cent respectively, although employees can score higher than 100 per cent if their performance exceeds expectations.. In 2005, five middle management corporation employees received more than the 25 per cent individual portion of the bonus because they exceeded their goals and objectives for the year.

To get the full 25 per cent you must score a full 100 per cent rating. One employee scored 134 per cent, while two others hovered around the 115 per cent mark.

In 2005, the corporation's net profits were $6.4 million, down almost $800,000 from 2004 when it made $7.1 million.

The argument the union is making is the bonus plan is a discretionary plan, "a benefit, gift or advantage without any requirement to do so," said Marshall.

Glenn Tait, lawyer for the power corporation, said releasing any of the information surrounding the bonuses from 2004 and 2005 will be a breach of their right to privacy under the Canadian Charter of Rights. Tait argued by releasing any part of the individual performance criteria of the bonus would be releasing an individual's employee evaluation.

"There may be damage to an employee's reputation if the information is released," Tait said.

Tait also argued the release of just the amount of the bonuses would allow for people to determine who the bonus went to. He said four employees earned less than $60,000 a year and five earned over $100,000, making them a small group that people could easily pinpoint who got what, especially within the corporation staff.

"They are too small to allow for any form of homogeneity," Tait said, adding the group of one, the CEO of the corporation, would be easy to determine.

Judge John Vertes heard the two sides of the case and will issue a verdict once he has reviewed the case.