# 2021-214 Harassment, Harassment

Case summary

F&R Date: 2023-01-24

The grievor disputed the decision of the Responsible Officer (RO) not to further investigate her allegations of harassment. As redress, the grievor requested that her complaint be reopened and reviewed by a new RO and Harassment Investigator.

The Initial Authority (IA) decision rendered was invalidated by the Director Canadian Forces Grievance Authority because the RO outranked the IA. The grievance was referred to the Final Authority (FA) without an IA decision. The Committee noted that Fawcett v Canada (Attorney General), 2012 CF 750 (CanLII), held that the decision to request an FA review without an IA decision rests with the grievor. The Committee remedied this issue by confirming the grievor's agreement with this decision.

The RO found that some of the allegations met the harassment criteria, but he determined that no further investigation was needed after reading the comments of the respondent. The Committee found that the RO may proceed without further investigation when they find that they have sufficient information, but that paragraph 6.1 of the Harassment Prevention and Resolution Instructions requires the RO to document their reasons for exercising this discretion and the RO did not.

The Committee noted that the grievor's allegations were serious, that the depiction of events was conflicted and that witness statements would have been important to obtain. As a result, the Committee found that the RO should have ordered an investigation into the grievor's complaint.

The Committee found the grievor was aggrieved and recommended that the FA afford redress by quashing the RO's determination and reopening the complaint with a new RO.