The Kwanlin Dun First Nation's chief and council have found themselves the subject of a lawsuit over the dismissal of the first nation's former director of human resources and education.

Cara Smith filed the lawsuit against Chief Mike Smith and councillors Shirley Dawson, Jessie Dawson, Allan Taylor, Bill Webber, Ann Smith and Edith Baker in Yukon Supreme Court last Thursday.

In the documents filed, Cara Smith states that on Nov. 28, 2005, she was hired and signed a contract with the KDFN to work as the director of human resources and education.

Under the contract, she was to start work on that date as a permanent full-time employee, receiving an annual salary of $68,013 as well as benefits and allowances for leave time.

The contract was breached, the documents noted, on a number of occasions, including:

• Shortly after she started work when the first nation 'unilaterally' altered the terms of the agreement by making Smith also responsible for overseeing the social assistance program. Smith didn't agree to the change and continually tried to address the matter constructively. In June, she was given an ultimatum that she either accept her new duties or resign;

• Preventing her from doing her supervisory responsibilities and undermining her authority by criticizing and insulting her in the presence of her subordinates and other employees;

• Failing to provide her with a workplace that was free of racial harassment and subjecting her to differential treatment due to her race, the documents state;

• 'The defendant (KDFN), having no cause to discipline the plaintiff (Cara Smith), directed her to stay away from the workplace for a period of one week in September 2006,' the lawsuit reads;

• The suit says KDFN terminated Cara Smith without cause and without reasonable notice by a letter on Nov. 17.

'At all times, the plaintiff carried out the instructions given to her by the defendant with loyalty, diligence and respect,' the court documents read.

The dismissal caused mental distress to Cara Smith by terminating her when she was on unpaid leave and under medical supervision for stress and depression caused by the treatment she endured at work, the lawsuit claims.

That action breached her rights guaranteed under the Canadian Human Rights Act and provided no compensation in lieu of notice when the KDFN knew that as a human resources profession, she would recognize the 'flagrant disregard for her rights,' the documents say.

There was also distress caused by the firing coming just days before her one-year anniversary with the first nation. That prevented her from getting access to more economical and faster remedies under the Canada Labour Code, her lawsuit says.

'The defendant disingenuously and in blatant contradiction of the facts stated that they were not terminating the plaintiff , but considered her to have resigned her position,' the documents state.

It then goes on to note that Cara Smith was entitled to an extended notice period and that she was wrongfully terminated by the letter.

Alternatively, she was terminated by the other incidents of breaching the contract which ended up in her being suspended in September 2006 and the circumstances around that, the documents say.

Cara Smith is claiming for general, aggravated and special damages as well as costs around the case and pre-and-post judgment interest.

The KDFN could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.