FAQ's Cases - Stewart McKelvey

Balogun v. Deloitte & Touche, LLP Page 6said he intended to bring files and other documents to refute criticism that had beenmade. The plaintiff clearly had a much higher opinion of his abilities andperformance than what was being expressed by Mr. Buchan and Mr. Fichtner.Whatever the merits of his position, I find that he was so focussed on the salaryquestion that he paid little attention to other issues that were raised.[19] The June 16 meeting took place late in the afternoon, just before the plaintiffwas to begin a scheduled two-week vacation. Mr. Buchan testified that he referredto the issues raised in his earlier email and wanted to know if the plaintiff wasprepared to change his approach to the job. Mr. Fichtner described the meeting asa “broad ranging conversation centred around my concern with respect toconfidence and attitude, performance evaluation and response”. He said he askedthe plaintiff to confirm he understood the concerns and would attempt to addressthem.2011 BCSC 1314 (CanLII)[20] Mr. Fichtner and Mr. Buchan both testified that the plaintiff said no one in theoffice was capable of evaluating his work and when he was asked what that meantfor the future, the plaintiff replied “I’m out of here”. They took that as a statementthat he was resigning.[21] The plaintiff testified that his reference to no one being capable of evaluatinghis work dealt only with the work he did on U.S. tax returns and the fact that he wasthe only person in the Prince George office who held a U.S. accounting qualification.He denied saying “I’m out of here”, but said that if he used any words to that effecthe meant only that he was beginning his vacation and needed to leave for theairport.[22] Dan Faulder was an employee whose responsibilities included office securityand information technology. He testified that, on Mr. Fichtner’s instructions, heretrieved the plaintiff’s laptop computer and office keys. The plaintiff said heunderstood the computer was scheduled for replacement and the keys would beneeded for use by others while he was on vacation.