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Parks employee suspended after she reported alleged indecent act
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A city employee has been suspended from work for five days after she complained that a male colleague unzipped his pants and rubbed his body against her in the lunchroom.
Susan Rose, a maintenance worker with Toronto’s parks and recreation department, filed a workplace harassment complaint last summer following the incident, which prompted a five-month internal investigation.
Rose, who has worked for the city for 17 years, learned last week she would be suspended from her job over a comment she made to the employee before the encounter.
In a signed statement submitted during the investigation, Rose said the lunchroom incident occurred when she was joking around with the long-time colleague during a shift in Sunnybrook Park, near the Toronto hospital of the same name.
The colleague said something to her, which Rose couldn’t recall afterward, and she responded by saying, “I will punch you in the dick” — a comment she acknowledges was inappropriate but says was typical of the sort of banter that is common and accepted in her work environment.
According to Rose, the colleague then became aggressive, saying, “Do you want to punch me in the dick?” and began to unzip his pants and walk toward her.
Rose said in the statement she turned her head and grabbed the arm of another employee sitting next to her. The alleged harasser’s “body was touching mine,” Rose said, and afterward a third employee told him to wash his hands.
The alleged harasser “wiped his hands on my back,” Rose said, then washed them.
In an interview, she described the alleged incident as traumatizing.
“He violated me and he deliberately degraded me, and he got violent with me,” Rose said.
She said her suspension is completely unjustified and she has already taken steps to grieve it.
“I reported a guy who got out of hand and committed an indecent assault on me, and you’re telling me that you’re gonna punish me now because what — I’m at fault for this?” she said.
In a Feb. 28 decision letter obtained by Torstar News Service Jim McKay, a parks general supervisor, said an internal investigation had determined there was “some merit” to Rose’s claim of workplace harassment against colleague John Maynard, and said the “matter has been addressed” but did not indicate if or how Maynard was reprimanded.
Torstar requested an interview with Maynard through a CUPE Local 416 union representative who contacted him by phone, but Maynard chose not to provide his side of the story.
The decision letter addressed to Rose went on to explain that her own behaviour and comments — the “punch you in the dick” threat, which she says was made in jest — were deemed “inappropriate” and “in violation of the City of Toronto’s Human Rights and Anti-Harassment Policy.”
“The city aims to create a climate of understanding and mutual respect,” the letter said. “All employees are responsible for respecting the dignity and rights of their co-workers.”
Rose was suspended for five days beginning Feb. 28 and ordered to take a training course in human rights, anti-harassment and discrimination by the end of June.
A CUPE Local 416 spokesman said the union does not comment on labour relations matters, but in a private email to Roseand her spouse, an official said the union would support her in grieving the suspension.
“I believe it’s not only a farce but punitive and nothing short of (an) injustice, they have no right in taking out reprisals on Sue for coming forth with her complaint,” said Garth Smith, a CUPE national representative.
Smith said the union would “advocate strongly that this injustice and blatant abuse of power is corrected.”
The city’s decision letter accused Rose of providing “conflicting accounts of the alleged incident.” At issue was whether Maynard actually pulled his penis out of his pants, or pretended to.
Initially, the letter said, Rose told a supervisor that Maynard had “revealed himself to you and shoved ‘it’ in your face,” which was “significantly different from the information you provided at the investigation meetings.”
Rose said in the interview that the conversation with her supervisor was brief and not meant to be part of an official complaint, but rather to explain why she had taken a number of sick days over the course of the summer. She clarified during the investigation, saying she could not allege for certain that he pulled “it” out because she had turned her head away from him in horror.
Neither the union nor the city would say if Maynard denied the incident. Though Rose did not have access to details of Maynard’s response to her complaint, she said her understanding is that he denied actually exposing his genitals, but admitted to the other basic details as she described.
The decision letter noted that the “witnesses who were present and observed the incident on July 24, 2013” — two fellow employees — “did not fully substantiate” Rose’s account of what happened. The letter does not specify which details, if any, the witnesses disputed, nor does it provide an account of what investigators believe happened. Rose has not been told what the witnesses said about the encounter.
“By your own account,” the letter to Rose continues, “you regularly participated in banter and inappropriate workplace behaviour with Mr. Maynard.”
Rose admits to having been a participant in the inappropriate and often sexually charged banter she alleges is condoned or ignored by supervisors and management within the parks department, and says she regrets it. However, she feels the lunchroom incident went farbeyondinappropriate.
She further alleges that city managers are punishing her because they see her as a troublemaker, since she has spoken out about various workplace incidents in the past.
Individual city and parks managers involved in the lunchroom incident investigation refused to speak to Torstar about it, citing privacy and protocol concerns.
“I can advise that there has been a comprehensive investigation into this matter,” city spokeswoman Wynna Brown said in an email. “We are unable to address specifics as this is a personnel matter.”
“I would like to emphasize that the City of Toronto, its Agencies, Corporations and citizen advisory committees/bodies are committed to respectful, equitable service delivery and employment practices. The City of Toronto will not tolerate, ignore, or condone discrimination or harassment of any kind.”
Rose, who believes her employer will seek to further reprimand her for speaking to Torstar, said she is not afraid.
“I’m not going to be bullied into silence,” she said.
Torstar News Service
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