A high-ranking official of the Parliament reports workplace harassment just after they fire her

BarcelonaThe until now director of Internal Government of the Parliament of Catalonia, Anna Torné, has filed a complaint with the bureau of the Catalan chamber for workplace "harassment" that she has suffered over the last few months, according to a document to which the Efe news agency has had access. She registered the complaint just after being dismissed, something that was communicated to her this Thursday despite the fact that the affected party was on medical leave.

Torné asks the bureau that the Parliament activate the protocol for the prevention, detection, approach, and resolution of situations of psychological harassment in the administration of the Catalan chamber. The former high-ranking official of the Parliament claims to have been a victim of "constant questioning, lack of authorization, limitation, and removal" from her duties, and denounces "humiliating and derogatory" treatment by the current Secretary General of the Parliament, Clara Marsan. Torné also criticizes that she did not have the opportunity to present her version or her considerations before Marsan presented the report of her dismissal to the bureau, which made the decision to fire her.

Torné explains that she already perceived "derogatory treatment" from Marsan since the first meeting she held with her, and already then she conveyed her "concern" to the President of the Parliament, Josep Rull. Furthermore, she explains that the "psychological harassment" gradually worsened in a "progressive" manner, to the point that she could not hold meetings with the general secretariat of the Catalan chamber and was not summoned to meetings that affected her area. She also denounces that they altered her calendar of selection processes and other stratagems to push her aside. Even, Torné denounces that someone from the Parliament was spreading the rumor that she had "a personal relationship" with who was then Secretary General, Albert Capelleras, precisely when the position she held until now was at stake. For all these reasons, on September 21st, the doctor granted her leave for health reasons.

A key position

Torné had worked for four and a half years as the number two in the Parliament's Internal Government department, although de facto she led it because the director position was vacant during that entire time. Finally, however, the administration opened the call to fill it and Torné won it. Previously, the until-now director of Internal Government of the Catalan chamber worked in the human resources department of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and Pompeu Fabra University.

The position that Torné held is key within the administration's machinery. She was the person in charge of human resources and designed the general strategies for the parliamentary civil service, which directly affects personnel selection processes. Her election as director of Internal Government was not exempt from tensions, and a few days after she was appointed, the bureau of the Catalan chamber summarily dismissed the then Secretary General of the Parliament, Albert Capelleras.