Grievance Case Summary - G-489

The Grievor missed more than 32 consecutive hours of work. He claimed that his absence was due to an illness. A superior directed a Health Services Officer (HSO) to provide an opinion concerning the medical basis of the Grievor's sick leave claim, in accordance with Force policy. The Grievor refused to consent to a release of his related medical information to the HSO. The HSO stated that the Grievor could not be made to agree to the release of such information. Yet he also explained that he could not verify the legitimacy of the Grievor's sick leave claim without that data. He recommended that the Grievor's absence not be viewed as sick leave. He further noted that the RCMP recently discharged a member for abandonment of post, in a similar case.

The Grievor alleged that the HSO harassed him by saying conflicting things about the necessity of consenting to a release of health data, and by implying that an administrative discharge was justified. The Respondent, who happened to be the HSO's line officer, deemed the complaint unfounded without launching an investigation. She felt that the HSO had actively pursued the proper enforcement of RCMP standards. The Grievor filed a grievance. The Respondent later made a remark that the Grievor found troubling. The Level I Adjudicator denied the grievance. He found that Force Harassment Policy stated that the proper enforcement of RCMP standards did not amount to harassment. He held that the HSO had properly enforced RCMP standards by refusing to validate the Grievor's sick leave status in the absence of substantiating data.

The ERC stated that the only reason for opting not to have a full harassment investigation would be if it was clear that the allegations could not be found to fall within the definition of harassment. It cited Treasury Board Policy, and prior findings, in support of that principle. It found that this was not one of those rare cases where it was simply inconceivable that a full investigation would have led to a conclusion that harassment occurred. It observed that the Respondent never spoke to the Grievor about the substance of his allegations, or his affiliated concerns. It accordingly found that it would have been important to know more about the context in which the alleged harassment occurred before deciding that there was none.

The ERC further opined that when the Respondent's relationship with the HSO was combined with her unequivocal dismissal of the complaint, and her troubling comments about the Grievor, a reasonable person might find that there was an appearance that she was not fully objective.

The ERC recommended that the Commissioner of the RCMP allow the grievance and he apologize to the Grievor for the way in which his harassment complaint was handled.

The Grievor withdrew his grievance on January 10, 2012 before the Commissioner had an opportunity to render his decision.