Harassment allegations erased from public servants’ records after two years, committee hears

MPs on the House Status of Women Committee say they are concerned that departments are destroying all trace of public service harassment cases two years after incidents are resolved, allowing perpetrators to apply to new posts without a history of abuse.

“After two years, this person could move on to another department, get another job, and perhaps continue to harass again if that was the case because [departments] would not know that that was an issue,” said Conservative MP Susan Truppe (London North Centre, Ont.) Parliamentary Secretary to Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose (Edmonton-Spruce Grove, Alta.).

Ms. Truppe raised the concern at the Nov. 29 meeting of the House Status of Women Committee, where MPs were questioning Treasury Board Secretariat officials on its harassment policies as part of the committee’s study on sexual harassment in the federal workplace.

The Treasury Board Secretariat keeps records of a harassment incident on file for two years, and then destroys all mention of the case. Both the investigation report and a letter placed in the harasser’s personal file stating he or she has harassed someone are tossed out.

“I see no reason as to why that needs to be removed. I think it should stay there,” said Liberal Status of Women Critic Judy Sgro (York West, Ont.).

The practice is not specific to the TBS, said Fiona MacLeod, spokesperson for the department.

In destroying the records, the Treasury Board Secretariat and other government departments are following guidelines set out by Library and Archives Canada in 1998 that state that they must keep the information for a minimum two years after the latest incident.

“The fact that maybe that person has learnt and after that he never had any complaints—fine move ahead. But to erase it I think is an injustice to the person who lodges the complaint, and is just not the way the public service should be working,” said Ms. Sgro

“If I’m hiring somebody, I want to know what their past was, and if there’s no other complaints after that time, then that’s good. It shows me that the issue was resolved and the person learned,” she added.

At Treasury Board Secretariat itself, there have been no cases of sexual harassment since 2000, said Serge Jetté, manager, conflict management services, Human Resources Division at TBS.

However, the 2011 Public Service Employment Survey indicates that 29 per cent of the 201,430 respondents believed they had experienced harassment of some kind at work in the past two years. The survey did not differentiate between sexual harassment and other types of harassment.

“Treasury Board Secretariat results were very similar to those of the public service with 28 per cent of employees having mentioned that they had experienced harassment over the last two years. The department has taken serious steps to improve its performance the next time,” said Mr. Jetté. At that rate, about 532 people in the department of around 1,900 employees have felt harassed in that time.

According to that survey, while 81 per cent of workers surveyed said they felt that their organizations treat them with respect, 69 per cent said they felt the TBS is working hard to create a workplace that prevents harassment, while 41 per cent said they felt they could lodge a complaint at work, including allegations of harassment, without fear of reprisals.

Ross MacLeod, assistant deputy minister, governance planning and policy sector, Treasury Board, told the committee on Oct. 16 that the Treasury Board Secretariat had limited statistics on harassment from its management accountability exercise in 2009-2010.

“The 40 largest departments and agencies that participated reported a total of 314 harassment complaints and/or grievances between November 2009 and October 2010. Of the 314 cases, 77 were determined to be founded by the delegated managers of these organizations,” said Mr. MacLeod. The numbers include both grievences and complaints, but don’t differentiate between harassment and sexual harassment.

Mr. MacLeod also said at the Oct. 16 meeting that Treasury Board’s harassment prevention is tied to the new Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector, introduced in April 2012, and which is particularly important in “times of downsizing.”

Meanwhile, the department is now surveying employees about how it can further work to reduce harassment.

Mr. Jetté said that the department first tries to resolve harassment cases through informal means.

“The goal is first and foremost to make inappropriate behaviour stop. When employees come and see us, we try to accompany them in trying to resolve the situation informally, without necessarily having to go formal with a complaint, and investigation, and all of that,” he said.

 “When we resolve through the informal approach, an employee feels less threatened to come and discuss their harassment-related concerns with us,” he added.

Ms. Sgro said that now that the committee has learned about the bureaucratic practice of destroying harassment-related files after two years, she hopes it will do something to stop the practice.

“I would hope that out of this discussion, that one of the recommendations is that that not happen, that they repeal that particular part of the regulations that they operate under,” said Ms. Sgro.

The committee launched its study on sexual harassment in the federal workplace in response to the class action lawsuit against the RCMP launched by a former female Mountie who said the police force allowed a workplace culture where sexual harassment was acceptable to flourish. The suit, launched last year, now has more than 200 current and former members of the RCMP.

Opposition members of the committee had initially wanted to study the RCMP specifically but could not get the Conservative members on board. As a compromise, Ms. Sgro amended her suggestion to look at the entire public service.

Since then, she said that while hearing from other organizations in the public service has been helpful, the committee has been circling around the true purpose of its study.

“We get some good information then we have to wait three more weeks for another RCMP witness to come up. I find it frustrating, there’s no question about it,” she said.

At a recent meeting Linda Savoie, director general at the Status of Women agency run by Ms. Ambrose, said the organization has been contacted by the RCMP for guidance on dealing with workplace harassment over the past year.

“We’ve had a dialogue with the RCMP, and we’ve been able to provide them with resources, in terms of experts, in terms of research on best practices in the policing field, and we remain available if they require any for of advice or tools and resources,” she said at a committee meeting Nov. 29.

Suzanne Clément, the head of Status of Women Canada, has spoken to RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, and analysts have also likely exchanged information, said Ms. Savoie.

However, Status of Women Canada has not allocated any resources especially towards helping the RCMP, as ensuring the fair treatment of women in the federal workplace is not a part of the agency’s mandate.

“Our role has been to co-ordinate policy and provide advice on policies and programs that effect Canadians, not federal employees,” said Ms. Savoie.

Status of Women Canada works to advance women’s equality, end violence against women and girls, and increase women’s participation in Canada’s economy, society, and democracy. The organization also coordinates policies on how to take gender equality into account into developing policies and programs. The organization has 90 employees.

“Around the lack of dedicated staff that are working with the RCMP…I’m a bit alarmed that there isn’t that kind of a champions mentality given to you,” NDP women’s critic Niki Ashton (Churchill, Man.) told Ms. Savoie at committee.

In October, Ms. Ashton moved that the committee “call upon Status of Women Canada to take the lead in coordinating policy with respect to sexual harassment within all federal departments, including the RCMP.”

The motion was defeated.

“What better department than Status of Women to take the lead role in this?” said Ms. Ashton.

Ms. Sgro said she has tried to have the committee address the women’s agency’s mandate, which she said hasn’t been changed since the late 1970s when the organization was established, to no avail.

“I just don’t understand why we have Status of Women if they are not taking on some of the more challenging issues on behalf of the women of Canada. I really continue to question their mandate and why they don’t want to improve it and change it. Are they just there to do the fluffy stuff and do studies that are going nowhere? Or do they really want to deal with some strong issues on behalf of the women of Canada?” she said.

Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: JESSICA BRUNO