Ruling OKs move over barefooted colleague
• An Ottawa public servant has won the legal right to work in a separate building from a colleague who walked barefoot in the office, washed his feet with vinegar, made l oud guttural noises, broke wind and swore.
Line Emond, a statistics and data quality manager at the Parole Board of Canada, told a federal tribunal that problems began soon after the man — identified as “Mr. X” — moved into a cubicle next to her office in November 2009.
The first time she spoke to Mr. X, Emond testified, she had to tell him that “washing his feet with vinegar in his cubicle was inappropriate,” according to a Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board decision. Mr. X, a former corrections officer, wore sandals in summer and winter, the board heard, and used vinegar to clean his dirty feet.
Mr. X would arrive in their office building at 7: 15 a. m., Emond testified, open his bag, go to the kitchen, and make a lot of noise while reheating a meal. His leftovers often had a strong smell, she said, and he was a noisy eater.
When someone passed nearby, she said, Mr. X would yell things like, “Hey buddy, what’s going on?” and regularly swear. Every day, Mr. X would “rummage” through his things as he prepared to leave at 3 p. m., said Emond. She structured her day to avoid the noise by taking her coffee break at the same time.
Other parole board employees testified that Mr. X told loud jokes, made strange noises, “allowed himself to be flatulent,” and operated a white noise machine that was eventually banned.
Emond said she complained to her supervisor, Sheila Ouellette, and asked that one of them be moved.
The situation deteriorated on May 4, 2010, when Emond was on the phone with a colleague. Mr. X was making so much noise that she hammered on their shared wall to get him to stop. Minutes later, Mr. X came into her office and demanded, “What is your problem?”
According to Emond, Mr. X then warned her that “there is a line on the floor — and do not cross that line because I do not know what will happen.”
Frightened, Emond again complained to Ouellette, who offered to take the problem to mediation. Emond refused and was given a new office, further from Mr. X.
For eight months, the two co- existed in relative peace until Mr. X filed a harassment complaint against Emond.
Emond found out about the complaint as she was about to depart for holidays. It led her to seek medical help for depression, fear and anxiety. She went on sick leave and her doctor referred her to a psychologist, Dr. Georges Ramsay, who told the labour relations board that although Emond’s fear was “not specific,” it was real since she firmly believed Mr. X could be violent.
The dispute ended up before the federal government’s labour relations tribunal. Mr. X did not testify.
Federal lawyers argued that Emond did not suffer a disability, only stress, and that officials had offered a reasonable accommodation for that problem.
Adjudicator Linda Gobeil, however, sided with Emond, ruling that her stress could only be relieved by moving to another building.
“In the circumstances,” she concluded, “I find it hard to believe that a cubicle could not be found in Ottawa in which the grievor could work.”