Councillor stumped by ‘dozens’ of complaints
The file that Coun. Tony Caterina keeps on harassment and other complaints that come into his office from upset and frustrated city employees is several inches thick.
He receives dozens of complaints a year, he said.
He’s stumped about what to do with them.
Why are employees not going through the city’s regular complaint process, he asked, after finally reaching his limit. He filed a motion to get a full description of the city whistleblower and harassment complaint process at the first council meeting of the term.
“When they bypass all those steps and come to their councillor’s office, you know there’s a problem,” he said. “There’s a lot of complaints ... It’s something we need to address as soon as possible.”
Coun. Mike Nickel is also disturbed by the number of employee complaints he receives. “It’s everything from harassment to mismanagement,” Nickel said. “It runs the gamut.”
Dozens of people call his office, but few dare commit their concerns to paper, he said. They’re scared.
Other councillors hear fewer concerns. Coun. Ben Henderson estimated he’s only received three or four employee complaints in his three terms on city council and Coun. Andrew Knack said he only received two last term.
Nickel used to send complaints to the city auditor, then found out any harassment-related complaints go straight back to the labour relations people in human resources.
He worries that could lead to “a witch hunt.”
City auditor David Wiun said his office is simply not equipped to handle labourtype complaints or personal grievances.
He gets three or four complaints a year through the anonymous whistleblower line about bullying, shouting or using abusive language in the workplace. Those go straight to the city’s human resources branch.
“I’m not a human resources expert. I’m not trained in what is bullying, what is not,” he said.
However, he can assess how effective human resources has or hasn’t been in his next audit, due to be released Thursday.