Firing of browsing civil servant is just, board rules

Man sent confidential files home, wasted hours looking at car ads

A labour relations tribunal has upheld the firing of a public servant who used his government computer to indulge his car obsession, complain about his job, store electronic music files, and attempt to cheat on staffing competitions.

In a recent decision, the Public Service Labour Relations Board said the government had just cause to fire Marc Gravelle, a human resources assistant in the Department of Justice, in July 2011.

Gravelle had argued that the government did not prove its case against him and that his abrupt dismissal ignored the principle of progressive discipline.

Adjudicator Renaud Paquet, however, concluded that Gravelle had severed the bond of trust that must exist between the government and one of its employees.

“As a human resources assistant, he had access to confidential documents related to competitive processes,” Paquet ruled.

“He used that privilege for his own purposes and sent confidential documents to his home address. That constitutes a lack of integrity and very serious misconduct.”

During 12 days of testimony, the tribunal heard that in late 2009 Gravelle sent from his work computer to his home email account a number of government documents related to two staffing competitions to which he had applied. Among other things, the documents con- tained copies of exams, expected answers, draft rating guides, and a list of 108 job applicants, including their personal ID numbers and email addresses.

He also sent to his home email address a procedure to unlock password-protected files.

Gravelle, who ended up being screened out of the job competitions before writing the exams, had access to the documents by virtue of his position in human resources.

Justice department officials only discovered the security breach after ordering an investigation of Gravelle’s Internet use because of their concern that his poor workplace performance was related to his web-surfing.

Denis Ouellette, then Gravelle’s direct supervisor, told the tribunal that he met several times with Gravelle between April and December 2010 to discus late, errorladen work assignments.

He … sent confidential documents to his home address. That constitutes a lack of integrity and very serious misconduct.

In January 2011, Ouellette and Gravelle swapped offices and phone numbers. Ouellette was disturbed when he received a call from someone who wanted to discuss car repairs. (Gravelle testified that the phone call was from his father.) Ouellette told his superior that he suspected Gravelle was involved in some sort of “car business,” noting that he had previously seen him searching car ads on Kijiji and Used Ottawa.

Senior justice officials asked the government’s Information Technology Security section to investigate.

Investigator Denis Roussel produced a 392-page report after examining Gravelle’s computer use, email traffic and web browsing history.

The February 2011 report concluded that Gravelle was a heavy Internet user — he averaged more daily hits than IT employees — and that most of his activity consisted of searching for cars, yard equipment, engines, engine parts and tools on Google, Kijiji and Used Ottawa.

Gravelle testified that he used the Internet “for one minute here, one minute there” to escape from work and indulge his interest in cars and mechanical equipment. He admitted that he had a few items for sale on Kijiji, but insisted that he did not operate any kind of “car business.”

Roussel’s report also reviewed Gravelle’s email traffic between August 2009 and January 2011. It found that Gravelle exchanged 2,633 emails with another government employee during that time, more than 300 alone during one three-day period. Some 394 email messages between the two con- tained the word, “Kijiji,” in the message body. An equal number contained the words, “Used Ottawa.” Gravelle said cars were his “hobby.”

The investigator’s report also revealed that Gravelle stored 2,236 music files on the government’s computer network in a folder which he controlled. The folder, which could be accessed by other employees, contained more than 10 gigabytes of data.

In his report, Roussel said the music files may have contravened federal copyright legislation.

The investigator also discovered many office emails in which Gravelle used profanity, vulgarity and other “unacceptable language.” He also used his office email to complain about his job.

Gravelle was suspended without pay in February 2011, one day after senior department officials were handed Roussel’s final report.

Then deputy minister Myles Kirvan officially fired him in July 2011 for his “excessive and inappropriate use of the government’s electronic network to engage in business-type activities,” and for breaching the policy that governs use of that network.

In his ruling, Paquet said the government did not prove that Gravelle used his office computer to engage in business activities, but did prove that he was responsible for a serious breach of privacy and security by accessing confidential documents and sending them to his home email through an unsecured computer server. That misconduct, Paquet said, was enough to justify his swift termination.

When they found out about the privacy breach, justice officials informed each of the 108 individuals involved and reported the incident to Canada’s privacy commissioner.

The tribunal heard that Gravelle has been working full-time at a car dealership since March 2011 and is now a licensed mechanic and auto technician. He could not be reached.