Cardiac surgeon's 'mistaken belief’ does not make hospital her employer, says tribunal member
A pioneering cardiac surgeon who spent decades at Calgary's Foothills Medical Centre, wore an Alberta Health Services (AHS) badge and carried an AHS pager was not actually an employee, according to the Human Rights Tribunal of Alberta.
In a decision dated April 16, 2026, tribunal member Erika Ringseis dismissed Teresa Prieur's complaint, finding the relationship was that of a contractor, not an employee.
Complaints of discrimination
Prieur, who also goes by Kieser, provided services at the Foothills Medical Centre since 1988 and was initially one of only two female cardiac surgeons in the province of Alberta. She is recognized for establishing the cardiac surgery program at the Foothills Medical Centre.
Prieur held a Medical Staff Appointment with AHS and clinical privileges to perform surgery at the hospital. Her original complaint alleged discrimination in employment on the grounds of age and gender. After the director dismissed it, a Section 26 review overturned the dismissal on the gender ground only, and that gender complaint — alleging attacks on her performance, technical skills and professional judgment because of her gender and status as the only female cardiac surgeon — proceeded to the jurisdictional hearing.
AHS argued the commission had no jurisdiction because Prieur was not its employee. She disagreed, arguing AHS was her employer. The merits of her allegations were not ruled upon.
No paystubs, T4s from AHS
For 36 years, Prieur wore an AHS identification badge that operated as an access card, held an AHS parking permit, used an AHS email address and accessed the respondent's information technology department when she needed assistance. She carried a pager that belonged to the respondent and listed the respondent as her business address.
Prieur was also bound to follow AHS policies, with the Medical Staff Bylaws providing that practitioners are governed by the respondent's values, policies, and its Code of Conduct.
But there were no paystubs or T4 slips from AHS, no statutory deductions remitted to the Canada Revenue Agency on her behalf, and no employment contract, only a Letter of Agreement.
Her compensation flowed from Alberta Health through the Cardiac Surgery Clinical ARP, which received $7.5 million annually from Alberta Health.
After the Calgary Cardiac Surgeons Governance Association (CCSGA) was formed in 2019, it administered the plan and determined the payment schedule. After 2019, AHS was no longer involved in paying Prieur under the Cardiac ARP.
Line between contractor and employee
In response to a performance concern raised by colleagues, Prieur was asked to voluntarily restrict her clinical activities to non-operative work, sharply curtailing her income. The decision notes that demand came from the CCSGA, not AHS. Her professional corporation, "Teresa M. Kieser Professional Corporation", signed a Letter of Agreement under which AHS supplied an administrative assistant who remained an AHS employee, with the complainant reimbursing a portion of the wages.
"With respect to the most critical component of the complainant's job, conducting the cardiac surgeries, the complainant had control over what surgery would be performed and how, subject to the restrictions and regulations provided by the government and the college. The surgery room was the complainant's domain, and the respondent did not control the provision of surgery," Ringseis wrote.
She concluded, "The complainant's mistaken belief does not make the respondent an employer, nor does the history and documentation between the parties support that the complainant's belief that the respondent was her employer make sense."
The Tribunal noted it did not decide the discrimination case itself — it merely found that AHS was not her employer.
