CNIB makes deal with 2 kiosk operators over missing money claims

CNIB has reached agreement with two former lottery kiosk operators and is negotiating a possible settlement with another, CBC News has learned.
The national charity claims it’s missing $100,000 from several lottery kiosks across the Maritimes.

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Both Ed House of Truro and Charlotte MacFarlane of Halifax were accused of taking money from the kiosks they operated. Both filed complaints with the provincial Department of Labour after CNIB withheld their pay.

Both confirm to CBC News that they have signed an agreement with CNIB. Neither can comment further because of a confidentiality clause.

An earlier small claims judgment against House is now set aside.

Neither MacFarlane nor House can comment on whether they have withdrawn their complaint before the labour board.

CNIB is also in the process of negotiating a settlement with a Halifax couple who ran a lottery kiosk and were also accused of taking funds, CBC News has learned. The couple is being sued in small claims court for approximately $15,000.

Their lawyer, Laura Veniot, calls the claim “ridiculous,” adding, “it has no evidentiary foundation whatsoever.”

“This has been a huge source of stress for them… Primarily they want vindication,” Veniot says. “They want [CNIB] to admit they did something wrong and they’re actually asking for an apology.”

Meanwhile, the charity is threatening court action in a fourth case of disputed funds.

Sandra Gallant ran a CNIB booth in Summerside for a year, ending in August 2011. (Laura Meader/CBC)
 
CNIB has issued a letter demanding $9,880.62, plus interest, from Sandra Gallant of Summerside, P.E.I. She ran the CNIB’s lottery kiosk for a year starting in August 2010.

In March 2011, just seven months after she began, CNIB told her she was short approximately $13,000. She was offered the chance to keep her job if she agreed to repay the funds.

Gallant says given she signed a document agreeing to be responsible for the operation, she agreed to repay the money. She says at the time she told CNIB managers she had done nothing wrong and was not acknowledging taking the money.

Over the next several months, she repaid more than $10,000 through payroll deductions. But in August 2011, they again told her she was missing a large sum. This time they told her she was short $15,000.

At that point, Gallant quit and heard nothing from CNIB until Feb. 23 of this year, when she received a letter demanding repayment of the amount that CNIB said was missing.

Click here to see original article written by Yvonne Colbert of CBC News.