NC-261 - Harassment

The Appellant filed a harassment complaint (Complaint) alleging that the Alleged Harasser called him a derogatory name and took other actions to discredit and undermine him. 

After an investigation, the Respondent issued a Decision, finding that the Complaint was not established. The Appellant appealed the Respondent’s Decision, arguing that it was clearly unreasonable. He argued that the Respondent failed to properly assess credibility and made errors in her factual findings leading to the Decision. In the Appellant’s view, the Respondent failed to consider the incidents cumulatively and may not have listened to all the witness audio statements in the record.

The Respondent’s Decision is not clearly unreasonable because the Appellant has not established his grounds of appeal.

The Respondent’s credibility assessment in the alleged derogatory name calling did not result in a clearly unreasonable Decision. The Respondent provided a rational and tenable line of analysis to support her finding that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the Alleged Harasser had called the Appellant a derogatory name. It is clear from the Decision that the Respondent grappled with the evidence in the record and explained how it supported her finding.

The factual findings made by the Respondent regarding the actions purportedly taken by the Alleged Harasser to discredit and undermine the Appellant are supported by the evidence in the record. The Respondent provided a rational and tenable line of analysis, which was supported by the evidence, to explain why the Alleged Harasser’s actions did not amount to harassment.  

There are indicators in the Respondent’s Decision that show that she had reviewed the witness audio recordings prior to making the Decision. There are also indicators in the Decision that show how the Respondent turned her mind to the question of whether there was a common thread to all the incidents and whether the incidents in totality amounted to harassment.

The ERC recommends that the appeal be dismissed.