‘I was scared,’ harassment hearing is told
A disciplinary hearing by the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association is ongoing in Regina in the case of Marlon Gonzales, a nurse fired from the Balcarres Integrated Care Centre who is accused of professional misconduct, including the sexual harassment of several employees. The harassment is alleged to have occurred both at work and outside the workplace, with Gonzales accused of having “inappropriate verbal communications of a sexual nature” with co-workers he was supervising.
Gonzales was suspended from his role on Sept. 4, 2015, with his employment terminated on Dec. 17, 2015. On Wednesday, the hearing heard from a number of young women who outlined a pattern of what they claimed was repetitive harassment.
If found guilty of professional misconduct, Gonzales may be expelled from the association and struck from the nurses’ register. He has entered a not guilty plea to four charges. Choosing to defend himself and filing through documents on a laptop and phone, he crossexamined each witness, taking issue with many of the claims made.
One witness, a 23-year-old woman, said she worked night shifts with Gonzales during her employment as a licensed practical nurse at the centre between March and August of 2015, during which time she said he asked her about her virginity, continuously asked to give her foot massages, attempted on a number of occasions to lift her off the ground, attempted to kiss her, and told her she was “breaking his heart” by refusing to date him.
“He wouldn’t stop. He just kept pushing it and pushing it,” she said, often crying as she gave her testimony. “I didn’t want to confront it. I was scared.”
The complainant said she was so fearful of Gonzales that she ended up counting down the days and hours before she could leave her job and return to her studies.
She alleged Gonzales followed her in his car as she left after her final day of work, calling her phone three times as she drove and saying he wanted to “give you a proper goodbye.” He had previously left a mango on her windshield which had a note with a heart and an arrow on it, she said.
“I couldn’t make myself go back,” the woman said, explaining she was offered another role at the centre some months later but turned it down. “I don’t know what I would do if I was back there in those rooms.”
A 31-year-old woman claimed Gonzales repeatedly told her she was beautiful, and eventually opened the passenger door of her parked car and asked if he could kiss her. He also suggested he would follow her in his car, she claimed.
“I drove home as fast as I could so that he wouldn’t be able to follow me,” she said, saying her exchanges with Gonzales left her afraid. She denied giving Gonzales her number when he claimed in his crossexamination that she had written it on a piece of paper for him.
The hearing continues Thursday.
PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS A young man is hard at work Wednesday night preparing a question for mayoral candidates during a forum in Saskatoon. About 200 people attended the event at the Prairieland Center.