NC-271 - Harassment

The Alleged Harasser was one of the Appellant’s superiors at the Detachment at issue. The Appellant brought a harassment complaint (Complaint) against the Alleged Harasser, which contained 21 allegations. Two investigators were assigned to examine the allegations and provide a Preliminary Investigation Report (PIR) and a Final Investigation Report (FIR). The PIR was presented to the Appellant and she requested an extension to provide a rebuttal. In her request for an extension, she formally requested the recordings of the witness interviews which she was not provided. The Respondent, after considering the FIR, which contained interviews with multiple individuals, including the Appellant and the Alleged Harasser, found that the Complaint did not meet the definition of harassment.

The Appellant appealed the Respondent’s Decision and raised a broad range of grounds as to why the Respondent’s Decision was procedurally unfair, based on an error of law, and clearly unreasonable. 

The ERC found that the appeal should be allowed because the Decision was procedurally unfair. More specifically, the Appellant did not receive the audio recordings from the witness statements and therefore, was unable to fully respond to the PIR. The ERC also found that there is no evidence in the record that the overall investigation was conducted with a closed mind.

The ERC recommended that the appeal be allowed, and the matter be remitted to a new decision-maker. 

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.