The CEO of eHealth Ontario will be paid a bonus of over $80-thousand this year, even though staff at the provincial agency have launched a class-action suit to get back the bonuses they were promised but denied.

EHealth confirms president and CEO Greg Reed, who makes $329-thousand annually, will be paid a bonus of $81,250 this year.

EHealth spokesman Robert Mitchell also wouldn't comment on a class action suit filed by eHealth employees after Health Minister Deb Matthews told the agency to cancel their promised bonuses of up to 7.8 per cent in 2011.

Mitchell says the matter is before the courts.

Reed has said the controversy generated by the staff bonuses threatened to obscure the genuine progress being made at the agency. The government wants all public sector workers to take a two-year wage freeze to help eliminate a $15 billion deficit, and told managers and executives to lead by example.

Reed was brought in by the Liberals in 2010 when they cleaned house at eHealth after the auditor general found there was little to show for the $1 billion spent to develop electronic health records.

Reed was not immediately available for comment on the issue of the bonus.

(The Canadian Press)