Coworkers wanted to ‘eat your liver’

OT TAWA • A public service director was told her workers wanted her dead and would eat her liver after a gossip problem in a deeply dysfunctional Gatineau government office descended into threats and allegations of tyranny.

Things got so bad in the Research and Policy directorate at what was formerly known as the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 2012 and 2013 that outside specialists in conflict resolution were brought in, according to a recent decision by the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board.

But t hat i ntervention only seemed to make things worse, inflaming one particularly disgruntled employee — known only as Mr. B in the board’s decision — and prompting a 28-page harassment complaint against his supervisor.

The revelations came out in the grievances filed by Katherine Green, who was at the time a director in the Specific Claims Branch that dealt with treaties and Aboriginal government.

Green filed grievances over what she considered to be “disguised discipline” over her handling of the affair, specifically a negative performance assessment in August, 2013, and a subsequent decision to impose full- time language training and reassign her to another section within the department. The negative performance review came after the veteran public service worker filed a harassment complaint against her own bosses and discontinued job coaching that she also considered disciplinary.

The public service labour relations and employment board ultimately dismissed all of Green’s grievances against her bosses and the department, but not before providing a glimpse into an office plagued by infighting.

In her complaint, Green described how the threats by Mr. B ultimately led her to refuse to come to work out of fear for her safety. According to Green, Mr. B told her that she had enemies who wanted to “eat your liver.”

Green alleged her director general assured her that Mr. B — whom Green described as a former army officer who would allegedly tell people in the office he “liked to pick up body parts” — was just “f--king with her head.”

Mr. B later admitted making up the statements about how others wanted to eat Green’s liver.