C-156 - Conduct Appeal

The Appellant appealed the decision of the Conduct Authority (Respondent), who found one allegation established contrary to section 2.1 of the RCMP Code of Conduct. The allegation involved offensive comments and actions the Appellant allegedly made towards an RCMP employee, as well as disrespectful comments he made about her to other employees. The Respondent imposed a forfeiture of 11 days, which the Appellant submits is both procedurally unfair and clearly unreasonable.

The Appellant submitted that it was procedurally unfair for the Respondent not to disclose an Affected Party Statement, a written testimony provided by the Complainant, prior to the Conduct Meeting. The document had been jointly reviewed in the presence of the Respondent for the first time during the meeting. The Appellant argued that this violation of procedural fairness was amplified by the fact that the Affected Party Statement disclosed a previous conversation between him and the Complainant, which the Respondent relied upon in the decision to conclude that this incident suggested a pattern of unprofessional behaviour on the Appellant’s part. The Appellant submitted that the Respondent’s failure to disclose this evidence before the Conduct Meeting denied him sufficient time to provide meaningful submissions on the conduct measures.

The ERC concluded that the Respondent failed to provide timely disclosure of the Affected Party Statement. The ERC found that the evidence should have been disclosed to the Appellant at least 14 days before the Conduct Meeting (as required by the Conduct Policy), or as soon as it was obtained by the Respondent. The ERC also found that in the event of a disclosure during the Conduct Meeting, as was the case in the circumstances, an adjournment of the Conduct Meeting should have been offered to the Appellant.

The ERC recommends that the appeal be allowed and that the conduct measure, consisting of a forfeiture of 11 days, be rescinded.