# 2021-291 Harassment, Situational assessment 

Case summary

F&R Date: 2023-05-18

The grievor asserted that his harassment complaint had been incorrectly handled by the Responsible Officer (RO), whose situational assessment (SA) concluded that the grounds for harassment had not been met and that, accordingly, no formal harassment investigation was warranted. The grievor believed that his in-theatre supervisor had behaved inappropriately towards him. As redress, the grievor sought to have the SA decision overturned, for a new finding to be issued confirming that harassment had occurred, and for corresponding remedial measures to be taken against his supervisor.

The Commander Canadian Joint Operations Command, acting as the Initial Authority, was unable to render a formal decision within the authorized four-month period. Consequently, the grievor requested that the file be forwarded to the Final Authority (FA) for determination.

The Committee found that two of the grievor's three allegations met, at first glance, the criteria of harassment and, as such, a harassment investigation should have been conducted. However, the Committee also found that the allegations were minor in nature and that there were insufficient grounds to recommend opening an investigation so long after the deployment. The Committee noted that appropriate steps were taken at the time by the RO to address the workplace conflict, including separating the grievor and the respondent, which effectively ended any conflict. Finally, the Committee noted that, as per Canadian Armed Forces policy, the grievor had no right to dictate how the chain of command might address the respondent’s behaviour, even in the event the latter was found to have harassed. The Committee recommended that the FA not afford the grievor redress.