Grievance Case Summary - G-235

The Grievor submitted a harassment complaint against his supervisor. He complained that the supervisor had made derogatory remarks about him, had said that he would get his "pound of flesh and blood" from him before retiring, had made operational decisions designed to harm his work, had made a performance log entry against him containing prejudicial opinions and falsehoods, and had made efforts to block his promotional opportunities. The complaint was investigated and determined to be unfounded. The Appropriate Officer found that there was a personality conflict between the Grievor and his supervisor but that there was insufficient evidence to establish that the supervisor "deliberately" harassed the Grievor. The Grievor then presented a grievance against the decision on the harassment complaint and requested that the harassment be acknowledged by the Force. He also made direct allegations of harassment in the grievance against his supervisor and another officer.

The Level I adjudicator found that the Grievor had not complied with the 30-day time limit for the presentation of grievances with respect to the direct allegations of harassment. He found that there had been no errors in the internal investigation.

On August 18, 1999, the ERC issued its findings and recommendations. The Committee found that the grievance was timely insofar as the Grievor sought to challenge the validity of the decision that he was not subject to harassment, and sought a finding that the supervisor personally harassed him. The grievance was not timely with respect to the allegations that were not part of the Grievor's original harassment complaint.

The Committee found that it was unnecessary to establish that the supervisor had "deliberately" intended to harass the Grievor. The correct question was whether the supervisor's actions towards the Grievor constituted objectively improper conduct which he ought to have known would be offensive. The Committee found that the supervisor's demeaning remarks about the Grievor and the "flesh and blood" comment constituted harassment, in that this conduct was clearly inappropriate behaviour, which was offensive to the Grievor and which the supervisor ought to have known would be unwelcome. With respect to the remaining individual allegations of harassment, the Committee was unable to conclude that any of these incidents amounted to harassment.

The Committee recommended that the grievance be upheld with respect to the demeaning comments by the supervisor about the Grievor and with respect to the "pound of flesh and blood" taunt incident. It recommended that the Force address a formal letter of apology to the Grievor for having failed to provide him with a harassment-free workplace, and that a copy of this letter be placed on all relevant personnel files of the Grievor. The Committee recommended that the grievance be denied with respect to the other individual allegations.

On October 21, 1999, the Commissioner rendered his decision. His decision, as summarized by his office, is as follows:

The Commissioner agreed with the Committee on the question of time limits. He also agreed that demeaning comments were made by the Grievor's supervisor about the Grievor to his superiors, peers and subordinates. In addition, the Commissioner found that the one-time comment by the supervisor that he would "get his pound of flesh and blood" from the Grievor had no legitimate purpose and was perceived as an offensive and intimidating threat. In both cases, the comments met the subjective and objective elements of the definition of harassment. The Commissioner agreed with the Committee that other individual incidents alleged by the Grievor to be harassment were not. The Commissioner ordered that a formal letter of apology be addressed to the Grievor and that copies of the letter be placed on the relevant personnel files.