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Steven Walkom, the former director of officiating for the NHL, has been accused by a former referee of trying to force senior on-ice officials out of the league.

Dean Warren, who was fired by Walkom in 2008, made the charge yesterday during an Ontario Labour Relations Board hearing. Walkom denied the allegation.

“How can I say this in the nicest way?” Walkom said in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “I fully understand people coming up with creative reasons to get their job back. Everyone wants to work in the National Hockey League. But shame on Dean [Warren] for doing it, especially under oath.”

Warren is trying to win his job back through the Labour Relations Board, arguing that he was terminated because of his work with the National Hockey League Officials Association. He is also arguing that Walkom, who resigned his management position to return to the ice as a referee this season, wanted to use the league's evaluation process, and its exit plan for retiring officials, to get rid of the most experienced officials. Warren said Walkom admitted as much in a private meeting with him in September of 2006, the morning after he was elected a vice-president of the officials' union.

Warren testified that Walkom told him: “One thing that has to be done is get a way to get senior officials off the ice.”

Warren added: “He used the phrase that a lot of our guys think they have a job for life. We have to start getting young guys in. I told him I didn't agree. [Walkom] wanted my support to get senior officials off the ice. I felt they should be judged on their merits.”

Warren said he told senior referees Kerry Fraser and Dan Marouelli later that day what Walkom said.

Walkom testified at an earlier session in the Labour Relations Board hearing that the conversation never took place. He repeated that yesterday.

Warren argued that his performance reviews were positive and he was always picked to work the playoffs until he took a position in the officials' union. He said that changed in the 2006-07 season, along with the method of evaluating officials.

Evaluations, which previously had been done four times during the season, were switched to the mid-point and the end of the season. Warren said this gave the NHL more leeway to fire officials.

At the start of the 2006-07 season, the league also introduced what it called a succession plan, which allowed senior referees to plan their exit from the league over two or more seasons.

Warren told the hearing yesterday that the succession plan “met with some criticism” from some of the senior referees.

Walkom disagreed, saying outside the hearing that he hired former referee Terry Gregson specifically to administer the succession plan and to act as a liaison with the most senior officials. Gregson succeeded Walkom as director of officiating last summer.

Fraser, the NHL's longest serving referee with 34 years on the job, and Walkom have clashed in the past. Walkom fired Fraser's son-in-law, Harry Dumas, as an NHL referee. Marouelli has said publicly that he was not happy with the way Walkom informed him – by e-mail and without giving a reason – that he was not picked for the 2009 playoffs after appearing in the postseason for more than 20 years.

Walkom said he has had no problems with his fellow referees since rejoining their ranks and that none of his decisions as their boss were made because of any personal bias.

“Not every official is going to get the playoff assignments they wanted,” he said. “I'm sorry if I had to release somebody's relative. But that was part of doing the job. If they want to seek vengeance against me, they can.”

The hearing is expected to continue for at least another month.