NC-100 – Harassment

The Appellant filed a harassment complaint with the Office for the Coordination of Harassment Complaints (OCHC).  In the complaint, the Appellant alleged that he was a victim of harassment by being a victim of retaliation from the Alleged Harasser.

The Appellant submitted an informal resolution proposal.  The OCHC found that the compensation and transfer requested by the Appellant in that proposal, in exchange for withdrawing the complaint, were frivolous and recommended that the Respondent dismiss the complaint as frivolous.  The Respondent dismissed the Appellant’s harassment complaint on the grounds that the behaviour of the Alleged Harasser was not inappropriate or offensive as it was consistent with the performance of his management duties.  The Respondent did not mandate an investigation.

On appeal, the Appellant alleged that the Respondent should have investigated his allegations.  In addition, the Appellant alleged that the Respondent disregarded several of his allegations and relied on his own opinion to conclude that his complaint was frivolous.  Lastly, he asserted that the Respondent was in a conflict of interest as a decision-maker and should have recused himself. 

The ERC did not consider the conflict of interest allegation, because no request for recusal on this ground was submitted to the Respondent.  However, the ERC found that the Respondent’s decision not to mandate an investigation was clearly unreasonable since the facts available to him did not enable him to have a full picture of what had happened.  Interviewing the Appellant, the Alleged Harasser and potential witnesses could have enabled the Respondent to better assess the allegations of harassment.

The ERC recommended that the appeal be allowed and that the matter be remitted to a new decision-maker for a new decision with the direction to mandate an investigation into the Appellant’s complaint that should include interviewing the Appellant, the Alleged Harasser and potential witnesses. 

The Commissioner’s decision, as summarized by her office, is as follows:

[Translation]

Between January 2014 and October 2017, several events took place that the Appellant perceived as harassment by the Alleged Harasser.  According to the Appellant, the Alleged Harasser had a negative influence on his career for several years.  In his view, this caused him to be discouraged, depressed and devoid of all ambition within the RCMP.

As the decision-maker on the harassment complaint, the Respondent did not mandate an investigation and dismissed the complaint on the grounds that the alleged behaviour did not amount to harassment of the Appellant.

The Appellant appealed the matter on the grounds that the Respondent’s decision was reached in a manner that contravened the applicable principles of procedural fairness, was based on an error of law and was clearly unreasonable.  He argued that the Respondent was not impartial, failed to conduct an overall assessment by breaking down the series of events and erred by failing to mandate an investigation to gather evidence.

The case was referred to the RCMP External Review Committee (ERC).  After reviewing the grounds of appeal, the ERC found that the Respondent should have mandated an investigation to fully understand the situation.  The ERC found that the failure to mandate an investigation resulted in the Respondent failing to obtain relevant information, which meant he was unable to make an informed decision.  The ERC found that the Respondent’s decision was therefore clearly unreasonable.  Consequently, the ERC recommended that the appeal be allowed.

The Adjudicator determined that the Respondent should have indeed pursued an investigation to obtain a minimum level of information and that the failure to do so prevented a fully informed decision from being made on whether or not harassment occurred.  The Adjudicator found that the decision was therefore clearly unreasonable and allowed the appeal.

The Adjudicator remitted the matter to a new decision-maker with directions that an investigation be conducted.