Sexual assault at work | The FTQ-Construction sued by a victim of its ex-president
A woman victim of harassment and sexual assault by the former president of the FTQ-Construction Rénald Grondin is suing this union, as well as the Quebec Federation of Workers (FTQ), for more than $466,000.
The two union organizations “knew of these attacks” and did not “adequately protect” the employee, alleges the lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of Quebec. The complainant also accuses the two entities of “having ensured that her identity and her collaboration were revealed”.
The file was initially the subject, at the request of the complainant, of a broad confidentiality order which prohibited, among other things, the identification of all the parties to the dispute, including the FTQ and the FTQ-Construction. This ban on the defendants was recently lifted following the steps taken by The Press.
The name of the applicant as well as any information allowing her to be identified remain protected by a publication ban. The appeal designates it by the letters AB.
Immediate superior
The sexual assaults took place between 2008 and 2010, while AB was employed by the Association of Inter-Provincial Maneuvers (AMI), affiliated with the FTQ-Construction.
“The plaintiff’s attacker is not only her immediate superior, but he is also general director and financial secretary of the AMI and sits on the executive of the FTQ-Construction,” recalls the lawsuit for damages.
The general director of AMI during this period was Rénald Grondin.
In 2012, the Commission for Professional Injuries (CLP) recognized that “acts of aggression […] posed by the worker’s superior” made her a “victim of a work accident”.
Mr. Grondin was nevertheless elected president of the FTQ-Construction in 2018. He resigned from this position in April 2022, after The Press revealed the harassment and attacks he had subjected his employee to.
“Totally passive”
“Although these attacks and harassment were denounced and/or brought to the attention of the defendants and their representatives, they remained completely passive,” asserts the civil suit.
Still according to the motion, AB had reported the situation “to representatives of the defendants” during the period of the attacks. The attacker even made “explicit remarks of a sexual nature” to him […] before the representatives of the defendants.
No trial date has been set to date to resolve the plaintiff’s allegations.
The FTQ, FTQ-Construction and AB’s lawyer declined to comment when contacted by The Press.
AB “is still disabled, she will not be able to return to work and she is being treated by specialists in order to allow her a semblance of a normal life,” mentions the appeal filed last December.
The lawsuit estimates the damages suffered by AB at least $466,300. The estimated loss of income represents almost half of this amount ($225,000). Expenses not covered by the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) are also claimed as financial losses ($141,300). An amount of $100,000 is also requested as non-pecuniary damages.
The FTQ-Construction, the largest union in the sector in Quebec, is one of the affiliates of the FTQ, which is the largest union center in the province.
With the collaboration of Émilie Bilodeau, The Press
