C-162 - Conduct Appeal

The Appellant appealed a Decision by a Conduct Authority (Respondent) that he conducted himself in an unprofessional and disrespectful manner towards his supervisor when he arranged a meeting between a member of the public and his supervisor to discuss an award for the member of the public, without first informing his supervisor. In the Decision, the Respondent found that the Appellant breached section 2.1 of the RCMP Code of Conduct and ordered the loss of two days’ pay.

On appeal, the Appellant argued that the Decision was clearly unreasonable, contained an error of law, and was made in a procedurally unfair manner. He challenged both the Respondent’s findings on the allegation and the conduct measure. 

The Appellant raised the following procedural fairness issues: the Respondent’s alleged bias, the Respondent’s lack of adherence to the timeline to hold the conduct meeting after receiving the Investigation Report, and an allegedly insufficient investigation. The Appellant argued that the Decision on the allegation was clearly unreasonable because the Respondent’s reasons for finding that the allegation was established were insufficient. The Appellant submitted that the Respondent made errors in his credibility assessment, in one factual finding and in his finding that the Appellant was discourteous. The Appellant argued that the Respondent’s reasons for the conduct measure were insufficient and that the Respondent considered an inaccurate aggravating factor.

The ERC found that the Appellant’s procedural fairness arguments could not be entertained or were unsuccessful. The ERC also found that the Respondent’s Decision on the allegation was not clearly unreasonable. However, the ERC found that the Respondent’s reasons for the conduct measure were insufficient. The Respondent did not explain why he selected the aggravated range of conduct measures for the breach of section 2.1 of the RCMP Code of Conduct and he did not consider certain mitigating factors that were raised by the Appellant.  

The ERC recommends that the appeal be allowed in part. The ERC recommends dismissing the Appellant’s appeal of the finding on the allegation and confirming the finding. The ERC further recommends allowing the Appellant’s appeal on the conduct measure. Nevertheless, the ERC recommends that the Appellant should still receive the conduct measure comprising a loss of two days’ pay based on a different analysis.