sexual harassment
March 18, 2013 Christina Catenacci Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights,
The Yukon Human Rights Board of Adjudication just found that a teenaged employee was sexually harassed by her employer with persistent unwelcome sexual conduct. This finding was underscored by the power imbalance, age difference and generational communication issues present. That said, the harassment was considered to be at the most mild end of the spectrum of sexual harassment.
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February 8, 2013 Clear Path Employer Services Accessibility Standards, Employee Relations, Health and Safety, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Recruiting and Hiring, Standard for Employment,
As of January 2013, Canada is now the first country in the world to adopt a national standard for mental health in the workplace. Several health and safety and human rights legislation across Canada already address providing safe and healthy workplaces, the prevention of harassment that includes bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimination based on disability which includes mental illnesses. However, this new standard now gives employers and employees support to make their workplaces psychologically safe and healthy.
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March 1, 2012 Stuart Rudner Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Human Resources, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Wages and Compensation
The recent decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court in Szczypiorkowski v. Coast Capital Savings Credit Union is not particularly groundbreaking, but it does affirm a number of important points for employers…
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January 9, 2012 Andrew Lawson Employee Relations, Human Resources, Human Rights, Training and Development
Valuable information can come from diverse sources. Consider this case I uncovered via the daily commuter newspaper: a female employee complained that a third-party service provider harassed her. The incident took place on the employer’s premises, but the alleged harasser was not employed directly by the employer. He was employed by the company that serviced the company’s office photocopiers…
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August 5, 2011 Christina Catenacci Employee Relations, Human Resources, Human Rights
What prompts a supervisor or worker to send a co-worker inappropriate text messages? In British Columbia, sexually charged messages in the workplace have led to trouble for employers. What do employers need to know so they can avoid being on the hook for sexual harassment?
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April 26, 2011 Andrew Lawson Human Resources, Human Rights
Morris has been Everett’s supervisor for over six years. Recently Morris had hired several administrative assistants and was giving the new recruits a workplace tour. The entourage stopped near the area where Everett was working and Morris introduced everyone. “Everett is your go-to person, ladies, for advice on fashion, hair, make-up or anything else a girl needs to know these days.”
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April 15, 2011 Yosie Saint-Cyr Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights
We all know by now that emails sometimes get people in trouble—and some people get in trouble due to thoughtless emails. For instance, many people have lost their jobs after inappropriate use of email in the workplace. Forwarding emails within the workplace may carry drastic consequences for the sender, especially if unwelcome, lewd or sexually charged emails sent to co-workers and/or subordinates result in conduct that is prejudicial for the company.
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April 12, 2011 Andrew Lawson Human Resources, Human Rights
The question for Steve in this workplace scenario is: did you know your actions were unwelcome at the time of the occurrence?
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March 22, 2011 Andrew Lawson Human Resources, Human Rights
I am a workplace human rights trainer and I learn of some important real-life scenarios from my workshop participants. I am often asked to provide expert feedback. The following are two very interesting workplace human rights scenarios—I have changed the names of those involved:
discrimination, employment law, gender discrimination, gender identity, harassment, human rights, human rights act, human rights code, prohibited ground under human rights legislation, sexual harassment, sexual orientation, training, workplace harassment
March 11, 2011 Christina Catenacci Human Resources, Human Rights
On March 8, 2011, just in time for International Women’s Day, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released a new policy regarding sexual and gender-based harassment. It has been noted that although great strides have been made for women in the past hundred years, there is still a long way to go to eliminate the barriers women face. The new policy deals mainly with sexual harassment in employment, housing and education.
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March 3, 2011 Stuart Rudner Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights
By now, most of us have heard about a controversial decision of the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench in which Justice Robert Dewar sentenced a man found guilty of sexual assault to a two year conditional sentence, allowing him to remain free in the community and avoid any jail time.
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November 3, 2009 Yosie Saint-Cyr Health and Safety, Human Resources, Human Rights
With this whole text-messaging explosion, a new epidemic called “textual harassment” has emerged. I recently read a couple of articles dealing with this new liability concern for employers: textual-sexual harassment. Of course this warning comes from the United States—according to a recent US Justice Department report to Congress, 23 percent of stalking or harassment is happening via text messages. The problem has become so large in the US that 46 states have anti-stalking laws that refer to electronic forms of communication. However… since US lawsuits that involve texting and harassing behaviours are increasing, Canadian employers should beware!
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October 5, 2009 Yosie Saint-Cyr Human Resources, Human Rights
Last week, television talk show host David Letterman acknowledged on his program that he had sexual relationships with several female employees and that someone tried to extort money from him under the threat of making the relationships public. Letterman referred the matter to the police and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, and after an investigation, another employee of the Letterman’s broadcasting network, CBS, was arrested on attempted grand larceny. I don’t know about you but this is a great example of how romance (sex) in the workplace can go terribly wrong!
canadian employment law, employment law, employment standards, HR issues, Human Resources, human rights, policies and procedures, policy, romance in the workplace, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment
Hi John, Thanks for your comment. Check out paragraph 67 of the decision: "Accordingly, none of what I have written above is to suggest or... – May 22, 4:38 PM
This is really spin doctoring the decision. My firm appeared at the Court of Appeal for an intervenor the University of Saskatchewan. Whatever the Supreme... – May 22, 1:00 AM
