Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath has yet to respond to allegations of workplace harassment, bullying and high staff turnovers at the party's three constituency offices in Hamilton.

Horwath's staff directed inquires from The Spectator to the party's director of human resources who said she was unable to comment on individuals' personnel files.

"What we can say is that our staff is unionized, and any issues that arise with individual employees are dealt with through the process laid out in the union's collective agreement," Marla DiCandia said via email.

The allegations in question are contained in the latest edition of the Bay Observer, a monthly print and online (http://bayobserver.ca) newspaper published by John Best, a former vice-president of news at CHCH TV.

According to the article, several former office employees at the three NDP constituency offices, including Horwath's, have described a "toxic" work environment of bullying, intimidation, and recurring stress leaves.

One worker reportedly said an unidentified Hamilton MPP tried to get her to file a false sexual harassment accusation against another worker to create grounds for dismissal.

Another recalled an unidentified MPP yelling and swearing at a staffer who was reduced to tears.

The Bay Observer says the former staffers asked for anonymity because of concerns that being identified could hurt their employment prospects.

The paper found that between Horwath's office (Hamilton Centre), MPP Paul Miller's (Hamilton East-Stoney Creek), and MPP Monique Taylor's (Hamilton Mountain), some 11 staffers have quit, been fired, were bought out after filing grievances, or were paid to stay at home.

The latter includes Todd White, chair of the Hamilton and District School Board, who has been a part-time staffer in Miller's office for years. White confirmed to Spectator reporter Matthew Van Dongen that he's still on the office payroll but hasn't been to work since June.

For his part, Miller told The Spec he's not allowed to say anything other than White has been on administrative leave and is currently involved in arbitration.

But Miller called it "totally bogus" to associate his office with a trend of employees being fired or on stress leave.

According to Miller, two other staffers left him last year for new jobs, one with a transit union, the other for a higher-paying government job.

"No one was fired, no one was on stress leave."

Miller also noted the NDP is the only major political party that has unionized constituency staff, and suggested high turnover in political offices is "pretty typical."

The Spec hasn't independently verified other allegations reported by the Bay Observer. Multiple attempts to reach Taylor were unsuccessful. As with Horwath's office, inquiries were apparently directed to NDP human resources.

That said, it's fair to note that The Spectator has heard rumblings of a forthcoming human rights complaint from a member of Taylor's staff.

Some of the Bay Observer info is inside baseball. For example, the article notes that Horwath filed a grievance against the union over her former employee Geraldine McMullen, who was reportedly fired in 2012 but remained on the payroll until November, 2013, when Horwath is said to have grieved the union to stop the payments.

Other aspects of the story are far more troubling, particularly the allegations of attempting to cook up a sexual harassment accusation and verbal bullying. According to publisher Best, he didn't identity which MPPs were allegedly involved in the incidents in order to protect the identities of the staffers.

Best says he stands by the article. "I have got multiple verifications on every assertion made."

In a related Bay Observer editorial, Best quite rightly notes that the optics of the allegations are not only terrible for a party rooted in the labour movement, it raises questions about the impact on the level of service constituents receive from the taxpayer-funded offices.

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If for no other reasons, that's why the story deserves wider circulation. If for no other reasons, that's why Horwath should address the issue head-on rather than handing it off to party bureaucrats.

Andrew Dreschel's commentary appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. adreschel@thespec.com @AndrewDreschel

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