NC-207 – Harassment

The Appellant appealed the Respondent’s decision that he failed to establish that he was harassed.

On appeal, the Appellant argues that the Respondent’s decision was not sufficiently supported or intelligible, was based on an error of law and was clearly unreasonable.

The ERC found that, although the Appellant was no longer employed by the RCMP when he filed his harassment complaint and his appeal, he had standing. In addition, the ERC recommended that the final decision-maker extend the time limit even if the Appellant was out of time, since the Appellant received a decision in English even though he had requested that the proceedings be in French. Lastly, the ERC found that the reasons for the Respondent’s decision were insufficient, that the decision contained errors of law (the Respondent placed the burden of proving harassment on the Appellant and referred to the Alleged Harasser’s intent to determine that there had been no harassment). The ERC therefore found that the decision was clearly unreasonable.

The ERC recommended that the appeal be allowed.

The Adjudicator agreed with the ERC Findings and Recommendations and as such, adopted the ERC Findings and Recommendations in their entirety as their reasons for concluding for that this appeal be allowed.