Senate sued over cancelled survey on harassment
Company seeks $332,500 compensation
WE ALWAYS STAND BEHIND THE DATA OUR TECHNOLOGY PROVIDES. — MICHAEL ROSENBERG
OTTAWA • The Senate is being sued for $332,500, after it cancelled a survey of Senators and staff on workplace harassment because managers didn't like the questions being asked.
WPV Corp., a human resources company that is now named AI2HR, won a competitive bid in late 2020 and signed a deal with the Senate in January 2021 to do an assessment of bullying and harassment in the workplace.
The work was done as part of new federal legislation, which requires all federal workplaces including the House of Commons and the Senate to have policies about harassment and bullying.
In the fall of 2020, the Senate awarded nearly $500,000 in compensation to employees of former senator Don Meredith, who was accused of creating a toxic work environment and of harassing and sexually harassing some employees. The complaints against Meredith first emerged in 2013 and Meredith resigned from the Senate in 2017.
In its statement of claim, WPV Corp. charges that public servants who help oversee the Senate told the company the survey as first drafted “would raise the objections of Senators” and that the questionnaire did not reflect the unique culture of the Senate.
The company charges that Senate staff told them the Red Chamber's culture is different, because Senators “have no leadership” and are “not accountable in the traditional sense.” While the company offered to make some changes to some questions, it told Senate staff it was not able to change its approach completely.
In the suit, the company said it planned several trips to the Ottawa area only to have meetings cancelled. WPV Corp. also said Senate staff never properly explained the unique culture and were slow to respond to requests for more information.
The company's president, Michael Rosenberg, said he couldn't comment on the lawsuit or get into any details about the dispute, but said he is proud of the company's approach, which he said finds problems in real time.
“We always stand behind the data our technology provides and ensure its accuracy. This protects the organization, management and all its people. Integrity is an important value to us,” he said in an email.
He said the questionnaire has been vetted through research with Saint Mary's University in Halifax and it can't simply be tweaked to direct an outcome. The company boasts on its website of several firms large and small that have benefited from its service.
“If an organization tries to `game' the data in order to create a false impression, we cannot stand behind the data. To do so would ruin our reputation and significantly increase our own liability,” he said. “We stand behind the validity of our tools and technology and cannot change it to guarantee an outcome as that would destroy our reputation.”
The Senate's statement of defence denies any of the company's charges. It says the company promised a “tailor-made” questionnaire and when it failed to deliver that the contract was cancelled.
The company was paid $13,500, the first portion of what was supposed to be a $45,000 contract. The lawsuit seeks the full contract payment, plus an additional $200,000 for business the company said it lost because of the failed Senate contract and punitive damages of another $100,000.
Pam Ross, a spokeswoman for the Senate, would not comment on the suit citing the ongoing litigation. In an email, she did say that the Senate retained another firm to do the assessment at a cost of $74,250.
While the contract with WPV Corp. was falling apart, the Senate unveiled a new harassment policy, which passed through the Senate in March. Ross said the Senate decided to incorporate the results of that survey into its policy after it was complete.
“Although not legally required to do so, the Senate wanted an independent third party to conduct the workplace assessment but did not want this process to delay the adoption of the policy,” she said.
The new harassment policy includes a third-party provider hired to take and review complaints. Ross said that service is in place, but would not reveal how many reports it has received, citing confidentiality.
A trial date or mediation hearing on the case has yet to be set. Statements of claim and defence are legal filings and include allegations that have not been proven in court.