# 2018-005 Harassment, Harassment

Case summary

F&R Date: 2019-01-31

The grievor, who is a social worker, was transferred to the Integrated Personnel Support Centre following several leave periods. During that time, she filed a harassment complaint against her former boss. The Responsible Officer concluded that the events described did not meet the criteria for harassment. The grievor filed a first grievance related to that decision and added two other respondents. Later, the Final Authority (FA) asked for a harassment investigation to be opened and ordered that the respondents named in the complaint be informed as soon as possible and that they not be involved in the grievor's career management under any circumstances during the investigation. Several days later, the grievor received a letter from the Deputy Surgeon General (D Surg Gen), who communicated the decision to put a structured return to social work program in place and indicated that one of the respondents had taken part in discussions leading to the program's creation.

The grievor alleges that she was harmed by the implementation of the program, which, according to her, was unjustified. She also alleged that decisions regarding her career were made or informed by the respondents in her harassment complaint, which was contrary to the FA's instructions. Lastly, she deplored the fact that the measures taken were not administered in her official language of choice.

The Commander of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group, acting as Initial Authority (IA), partially allowed the grievance. In terms of linguistic rights, the IA concluded that the grievor was aggrieved. Regarding the restriction imposed by the FA whereby the respondents were not to intervene in the grievor's career management during the complaint resolution period, the IA maintained that the chain of command had no information about the subject when they held meetings. Regarding the restrictions imposed, the IA deemed that the structured reintegration program was reasonable and justified, and that it complied with policy.

The Committee concluded that the evidence clearly established that one of the respondents had intervened in the grievor's career management, contrary to the FA's instructions which had been issued a few days earlier. That being said, and despite the error, the Committee noted that the reintegration plan was authorized by the D Surg Gen and based on a discussion held with a third party, the National Manager of Professional Affairs and Clinical Quality. The Committee concluded that the plan was authorized by an impartial decision maker who was not a respondent in the harassment complaint.

The Committee is in agreement with the implementation of a return to position program following the grievor's prolonged absence. Nevertheless, the Committee stated that the return to position plan had not yet been put in place, since the grievor was occupying a position where she did not do social work.

The Committee recommended that the FA transfer the grievor to an adequate position and order the Surgeon General to implement a return to position plan in consultation with the grievor and the social services branch.

FA decision summary

The Chief of the Defence Staff, acting as FA, agreed with the Committee's recommendation to uphold the grievance in part. The FA first specified that he was not addressing the issue of the harassment complaint that had just been the subject of an investigation. The FA agreed that the grievor's right to procedural fairness had not been respected when her chain of command took measures to restrict her professional practice. The FA found that the grievor's chain of command had failed in their management and supervision responsibilities with respect to her reintegration into the practice. The FA denied the grievor's requests for promotion and an ex gratia payment. He noted that the grievor could resume her practice after a reintegration period. He also ordered the Surgeon General to implement a policy concerning the restriction of practice privileges and reintegration.