The City of Montreal will pay $315,000 to police officer Costa Labos as part of an amicable agreement aimed at putting an end to all disputes between him and the former boss of the internal affairs division of the Police Department. Montreal City Police (SPVM).
Inspector Costa Labos had to leave his position as head of the internal affairs division in 2016 when a scandal broke out surrounding the police surveillance of several journalists, including the columnist of The Press, Patrick Lagacé. He was then transferred to another division of the SPVM.
The following year, the director of the SPVM at the time, Philippe Pichet, suspended him following an investigation opened by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ). This investigation never led to the filing of charges against Mr. Labos.
Relations between Costa Labos and the City of Montreal did not subsequently improve.
Suspended with pay for five years, Costa Labos filed a lawsuit in 2020, together with his wife, against the City for “disguised dismissal”, claiming 2.5 million in damages. The Press reported last April that a report from the human resources department of the City of Montreal had criticized Mr. Labos for failing to fulfill his health and safety obligations towards other police officers and had qualified him of “harasser”.
In 2021, Mr. Labos for his part filed a complaint for psychological harassment against the City.
Costa Labos returned to work in 2022, but in an email to Dutythe SPVM indicates that the police officer retired in July 2023.
On December 13, the executive committee of the City of Montreal gave its approval to an amicable settlement which provides for the payment of a total sum of $315,000 to Costa Labos, “without admission of liability on either side. ‘other “. “The transaction completely and definitively resolves all recourses undertaken by the plaintiff and his spouse as well as any other claim by the parties to the recourses in question and arising from the employment of the plaintiff,” underlines the document made public by the City.