Bullying victim still scared to leave her house
Peace bond expires in harassment case involving school custodians
WATERLOO — Karen Gerber stays frightened at home after the public school board refused to fire the co-worker who bullied her.
For one year, a court ordered Todd Nicholson to stay 200 metres away from Gerber and not communicate with her. The order expired Sept. 24 and is not renewable.
“He scares the life out of me. I don’t know what he’s going to do,” said Gerber, 59. “I stay in my house. That’s what I do.”
She says she sleeps poorly. She takes medication to control her stress, shops only when accompanied, and is seeing a psychologist. She’s currently off work on a workplace safety claim due to her fragile emotional state.
Gerber and Nicholson have no personal relationship. They are school custodians who clean different schools. He declined to be interviewed.
Two years have passed since the incident that upset their lives.
In September 2014, Gerber saw an image on Nicholson’s cellphone while both attended a meeting of their labour union. She made a report that eventually led Waterloo Regional Police to investigate him for child pornography.
Nicholson was not charged. Police viewed his laptop but not his cellphone and have not explained why. The Waterloo Region District School Board suspended him for four months before returning him to his cleaning duties at Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute.
Nicholson, who has denied wrongdoing, reacted by harassing Gerber, a court found. A justice of the peace ruled that he telephoned her and threatened to cut her throat, that he pointed his fingers at her in a gun gesture while driving past her house, that he tried to intimidate her, that he has a retaliatory nature, and that she has reason to fear him.
“It is a classic example of bullying and it has come at a huge emotional and psychological cost to Ms Gerber,” justice of the peace Ruth Legate Exon said. Exon imposed a one-year peace bond on Nicholson, then 41, last year. It leaves him without a criminal record.
Two years after making her report, Gerber regrets the fallout on her life, husband and two children.
“I did do the right thing. But would I do it again? I don’t know. I don’t know. Probably not,” she said. “Just so much has happened. It’s been a long haul.”
While the peace bond was in place, the board hired a private security guard to escort Gerber into and out of Westvale Public School while she cleaned there. She argues, however, that by not firing Nicholson for bullying her, the board betrayed her and itself.
“They’ve got policies and procedures, and as far as I’m concerned they did not follow it,” she said.
On paper, the public school board pledges to support witnesses such as Gerber. Its policy states: “This policy prohibits reprisals against individuals, acting in good faith, who report incidents of harassment or act as witnesses. The board shall take all reasonable and practical measures to prevent reprisals, threats of reprisal, or further harassment.”
The public school board would not comment on the case, calling it a personnel matter.
Two employment lawyers not involved in the case have told The Record that while employers commonly forbid bullying, it’s more complicated to fire an employee for bullying. Factors include union membership, the conduct and findings of internal investigations, length of employment and disciplinary history.
Gerber feels the board is now pressing her to return to work, possibly without security measures.
“Are they still going to look after my safety?” she said.
He scares the life out of me. I don’t know what he’s going to do. KAREN GERBER