Hearing underway for Sask. nurse accused of sexually harassing co-workers

A disciplinary hearing is underway concerning a Saskatchewan nurse, Marlon Gonzales, who's accused of sexually harassing a number of his co-workers.
 
One of the first to testify at the hearing in Regina Wednesday was a licensed practical nurse (LPN) who worked with Gonzales at the Balcarres Integrated Care Centre.

When she started in March of 2015, it was her first job as an LPN.

Gonzales was the charge nurse and the woman's supervisor. She is now 23.

She told the hearing, which is being held by the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses' Association, that Gonzales made numerous inappropriate comments — at least one per shift.

• He asked her about her virginity, and about why she wouldn't date him. 
• He said she was breaking his heart and that she would look good with her hair down.
• He talked about his girlfriend and said she wasn't nice to him.
• On one occasion, after she told him she had never eaten a mango, he placed one on her car with a note that had a heart and an arrow drawn on it, she said.

When she objected to his various actions and comments, he'd apologize or laugh it off and say he didn't mean it, she said.

Then it became more physical. He would grab her hand and try to lift her up.

One night, he grabbed her hands and put them up above her head as she backed against a wall.

"I said, 'No, you're crazy!' and went back inside and pretended like nothing happened," she told the hearing.

At points during her testimony on Wednesday, the woman became tearful. She said she could have been more assertive in rebuffing Gonzales, but was not.

"I just didn't want to have conflict," she said. "It's me and him. It's my word against his."

"I just kept telling myself, 'You only have a month and then you're back at school,'" she said.

Ultimately she quit in the summer of 2015 saying, "I just couldn't go back."

She testified that the final incident, on Aug. 30 that year during a night shift, was when she was at the nurses' desk when he said he was going to miss her. He asked if he could kiss her, to which she said no.

Around 5:30 a.m., she was in a resident's room and encountered him again.

"I was raising the bed [and] he grabbed me and he said, 'God you smell so beautiful,'" she testified, adding he pressed against her and her response was to freeze.

"He kissed my neck," she said and said she felt him pushing his groin into her. She said it lasted about 30 seconds but it felt a lot longer. Then, she said, she grabbed his hands and pushed him back.

She told the hearing that he apologized saying, "I'm sorry. I can't help myself around you."

About 30 minutes later she went home after the end of her shift.

"I felt gross. I went home and took a shower," noting that he also tried calling her and she hung up. She never returned to the Balcarres Integrated Care Centre and decided against working anywhere in the health region.

"I couldn't make myself go back," she said, adding she continues to feel scared, intimidated and vulnerable.

Gonzales is expected to testify in his own defence later in the hearing.

He is also representing himself at the hearing and is able to question the witnesses.

Gonzales cross examines witness

On Wednesday, he asked the first witness directly if she realized that he had been teasing and joking with her during some of their conversations.

She responded that she wasn't sure what to make of such talks.

Gonzales also recounted episodes of interactions which he suggested showed they had a playful relationship and were at ease sharing personal stories.

I was scared to be too direct.- Complainant at discipline hearing

He asked her to recall a conversation about him nearly being molested by a house maid in the Philippines and how she told him the story of losing her virginity.

She responded that she recalled his story about the house maid, but did not share details of her first sexual encounter beyond noting she was scared.

Gonzales also referenced a time when he saw her smiling and asked her about it. He said she told him, "I'm texting my other boyfriend."

She responded that she did say that and it was a joke.

When it came to her assertions that she felt uncomfortable, he asked her why she never said so.

She testified that she told him to get away, that he was crazy.

"That was my way of saying, 'No,'" she told him. Gonzales followed up by asking if she was smiling when she called him that.

She said, "Sometimes. I was scared to be too direct."

2nd complainant testifies

On Wednesday afternoon, another complainant —  a 31-year-old licensed practical nurse — testified about her experiences with Gonzales in early 2015.

She said he frequently commented on her looks, calling her beautiful and asking why she was so beautiful.

She also told the hearing that he wanted to socialize with her and repeatedly asked to have dinner with her.

"It was constant," she said. "Almost every shift."

She added the attention made her feel worried and afraid.

"He knew I was married. He knew I wasn't interested," she testified. "He wouldn't take no for an answer."

She said that once, as she was warming up her car to go home at the end of a shift and he was in his car doing the same, he went to her vehicle, opened the door and asked for a kiss.

While she didn't report that incident right away, she said she finally did share her experiences with a manager.

"It was progressing," she said of his behaviour and why she reported it.

During his cross examination, Gonzales questioned her recollection of the episode at her car asking if she remembered him asking about her keys.

"You didn't hear me ask, 'Do you have your keys?'" he asked her. She responded "no".

He also asked her why she never told him that he had been making her feel uncomfortable. She said she tried, but not in those words.

Comment about breast size

Another complainant, a 25-year-old care aide, also testified about an interaction at the facility involving Gonzales.

She told the hearing that she was chatting with a colleague about their workout routines and the conversation included an observation about the effect of exercise on breast size.

She said, Gonzales, who had not been a part of the discussion, inserted himself into conversation and said he could tell her the size of her breasts by feeling them.

"He was supposed to be my higher up," she told the panel. "I was supposed to be able to go to him, not be scared of him."

During his questioning of the witness, Gonzales offered a different version of the episode suggesting he was talking about bra shopping with his wife.

She responded that was not the case.

"You made a grabbing motion with your hands and said you could tell me the size of my breasts," she said.

The hearing is expected to resume on Thursday.