Ottawa expected to compensate 500 past and present female R

[ken531a]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... 51?cmp=rss About 500 female RCMP employees are hoping to be compensated without having to proceed with a class action lawsuit against the federal government over sexual harassment and discrimination in the RCMP.

Details about a possible settlement are expected to be released at a news conference in Ottawa scheduled for 11 a.m. ET Thursday. A media advisory says there will be an "update on harassment-related litigation."

In attendance will be Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, Employment Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk and two of the plaintiffs, including Const. Janet Merlo.

Merlo is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, which was filed nearly five years ago and quickly grew with more and more female Mounties and civilians members joining the case after a CBC News investigation into sexual harassment in the RCMP.

Explosive allegations from former RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Catherine Galliford prompted hundreds of other women to come forward with similar complaints.

[Nasturtium]

I applaud this ruling.
Proof that sexual harassment and discrimination will NOT BE TOLERATED

[dontrump]

I applaud this ruling.
Proof that sexual harassment and discrimination will NOT BE TOLERATED

I do and I don't. Too many gold diggers involved here. lots of legitimate complaints for sure.hard to sort through the BS
seems as if these days your guilty till found innocent in things like this
Then we have a big problem of very liberal bleeding heart judges also to contend with along with as sod the gold diggers whom lie to make themselves a victim
I blame management for not being more severe at the time complaints were filed although it looks like a lot of upper command were some of the perps

[Hassel99]

I applaud this ruling.
Proof that sexual harassment and discrimination will NOT BE TOLERATED

Its really not, its proof of very little but a good indication that its cheaper to settle rather than fight in court with no possible way to look good in the court of public opinion.

not a single person will be fired or reprimanded due to a this settlement. People who harassed and discriminated will stay hidden, a trial could have named names.

[Treblehook]

This outcome should not surprise anyone. Cases of this nature are costly and take an immense amount of time to hear and to resolve in the courts. Thus, the plaintiffs, defendants and the courts are highly motivated to see an agreed upon settlement. So, the RCMP [or Government of Canada] will pay some compensation to all of the named plaintiffs and the matter will be ended with that. As someone has already stated, among those plaintiffs there will be those who were genuinely victims of sexual harassment or bullying or in some other way discriminated against by virtue of their gender. There will also be those who are not such genuine victims, rather they fabricated complaints so as to benefit from the eventual settlement. That happens all of the time as well. As to the settlement without the conduct of a trial, precluding the names and details of the acts of harassment and discrimination being heard... nothing new there either. Accountability??? That is a joke... there is no such thing as accountability anymore.

[ken531a]

This to me is a quick and easy way to dispose of a massive problem . the people who did this will not only not be held accountable but have more likely been promoted threw the ranks because of their ruthless aggression toward there fellow workers. Try to do this in your work places and see where it gets you. Only in the rcmp LOL

[Treblehook]

There is no accountability anymore, and it is not just within the RCMP. They might just as well take the word out of the dictionary. Too funny. As with all "settlements", there will be a gag order in place which precludes any of the participants from talking about the particulars of the agreement. Anyone expecting otherwise is naive. Do you think any of the females who were plaintiffs in this case will turn down the compensation and continue the "fight" on principle, in an effort to see the harassing members held accountable? I doubt it!!!!! Maybe the word "principles" should also be removed from our language as well.

[Rosemary1]

Exactly. Compensation handouts with no accountability to separate genuine harassment , victims, and the specific perpetrators. May be faster and cheaper in long run to settle but there is little consequence to actual perpetrators, paints entire RCMP with same brush, encourages some looking for quick payout to cry harassment at the drop of a dime, and does not lead to specific targeted solutions for better defining, preventing and responding to harassment in workforce since harassment can take many forms with varying degrees of impact upon those on receiving end.

[Necro]

Canadian taxpayers should be outraged that a half billion dollars is being paid out cover up sexual misconduct within the RCMP.

[watchkat]

I agree with compensation and don't want to get into that argument, but I would like to know just how much the RCMP are contributing to this payment. The RCMP as I understand it are a company that is hired by various communities and provinces for their services. That is the reason that places like Nelson, BC, Vancouver, Abbotsford, etc do not have the RCMP for policing.
Now given that, why are we taxpayers paying for their faulty workplace ethics?

Somewhere we taxpayers should be reimbursed for this payment and perhaps it is time that the RCMP become more accountable for their lawsuits. There certainly seem to be a lot of them lately and lots of secrecy as well. Over the last few years they have dropped their hiring standards drastically in my opinion. There was a time that if you smoked a joint or were in the company of friends that smoked them, you are not considered for their loftly standards. They had height and age restrictions and now it seems persons in their late thirties and early forties are encouraged to apply and the healthy body image seems to have relaxed, especially around the waistline.

There are good members, I'm not putting them all down, but they are a private type of company working under contracts and I have to wonder why these payments aren't coming from their insurance or their union or profit margins.

[my5cents]

Complete lose lose situation.

Heralded as a great accomplishment by the RCMP ???? Hello ? What a joke !

No accountability from the perpetrators. Large payout paid by who ? You and me.

Force the RCMP to take it out of their budget ? Sure then they cut back in their service, the victim then, you and me.

The tears from Paulson was a nice touch.

[Nasturtium]

There are good members, I'm not putting them all down, but they are a private type of company working under contracts and I have to wonder why these payments aren't coming from their insurance or their union or profit margins.

[Hassel99]

There are good members, I'm not putting them all down, but they are a private type of company working under contracts and I have to wonder why these payments aren't coming from their insurance or their union or profit margins.

The RCMP is not a private company.....

Government of Canada Self insures liability. They have the best insurance of all time, a taxpayer.
There is no Union for the RCMP
There are no profits

[watchkat]

http://rcmpvetsnational.ca/Comments/DSS ... acts-e.php

Pay and Benefits Fact Sheet

Excerpts from this link:

"The purpose of this message is to provide accurate information to our membership. Issues of severance and pension contribution rates were not part of the pay package, but imposed by the Federal Budget 2012.

Since the announcement of the federal budget on March 29th and the compensation package on March 30/2012, I have received emails asking for clarity and information. A number of the emails had information that was not accurate. The majority were members asking for further clarification. I will attempt to provide a breakdown of issues raised, clarity and accurate information on each."

and further down

"Compensation Package

In our message last week we were stating the facts as to the financial environment we are living in as federal employees. The “Budget” announced that within the next three years the Force must come up with approximately $195 million in savings from our budget. Close to 10% of our overall budget. As well any pay increase for 2012, 2013 and 2014 must come from within existing budgets as per the Budget Implementation Act. All federal employees have been hammered by the government and Treasury Board. The Government’s plan to reduce the budget for the next three years has clearly fallen on the backs of federal employees. The Public Service and Canadian Armed Forces are looking at layoffs. This is not about union, association or SRR; it is about being a federal employee, the Government is our employer. To be clear, what we received is not everything that the Pay Council asked for. We did get extras that will assist our members where most collective agreements got the straight salary. We are not bound by a collective agreement which restricts anything further over the next three years. I will be pushing for meetings with Treasury Board. I will continue to advocate for increases to existing allowances and benefits or new allowances and benefits etc. during the life span of this package.

I have been asked for the latest Pay Council quarterly report and this is due to be out soon, hopefully the week of April 9th. Once I receive same I will send out nationally. A few members felt that we received what the Pay Council had sought in the compensation package and that is not true. Due to cabinet confidence it would be an offence for the Pay Council to release the details of what was initially sought, no different than when a union starts discussions with Treasury Board. This has been the same since 1996 when the Pay Council was developed.

I received many emails asking for an update on the wage “roll back”. The Federal court of appeal hearing was held in January 2012 and a decision is pending. Our lawyer advises it usually takes approximately six months to get a decision which means somewhere around June 2012.

In this package the Pay Council was able to obtain increases to some of our allowances and extra benefits outside of salary increases that other federal agencies were not able to obtain. Such as an increase in shift premium, senior constable allowance, a wellness day and extending service pay to members with 4 years of service instead of 5 years."

The bold accents are mine and it would appear that they have funding for lawyers to fight their employer when needed. They appear to answer to and for the members.

It is not an official "union", but they certainly have a strong Pay Council that seems to negotiate better than the Public Service Union.

[Treblehook]

Unfortunately, it will be almost impossible for anyone to discern which claims are legit and which are not. In some instances, harassment is in the mind of the beholder. Our misfortunes in the workplace are often a consequence of our own decisions, as those decisions frequently have an impact on promotion, transfer and/or selection for preferred jobs or functions. Those who fall into that category can hardly be considered the victims of harassment or discrimination... but, some of them will clearly believe that they are.