Workplace Challenges

When Relationships Turn Sour

Paws Off: Dealing With Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Should you wait until the boss starts chasing you around the desk to call the behaviour sexual harassment?

By Hélèna Katz

[ 2009-02-06 ]

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Sexual harassment can be a single incident or a pattern of behaviour – but either way, it’s not OK. Victims are protected by provincial and federal legislation including the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Criminal Code of Canada and the Canada Labour Code. “The goal [of legislation] is to provide a workplace where everybody can feel comfortable, which is an important element of creating equality in the workplace,” Toronto employment lawyer Kenneth Krupat says.

Defining sexual harassment

The Supreme Court of Canada defines sexual harassment as unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that has a negative impact on the work environment or the victims. The behaviour can include inappropriate touching, making offensive comments related to someone’s gender, displaying sexually offensive pictures or staring at or making unwelcome comments about a person’s body.

Lawyer Michael Fitzgibbon, partner with Borden Ladner Gervais in Toronto, admits that the line between daring jokes or flirtatious banter and sexual harassment isn’t always clear. “Something that might appear minor to one person might be major to another,” he says. “It’s a very fine line and very hard to know where the line gets crossed.”

The key, lawyers say, is that the sexual attention is unwanted.

Dealing with sexual harassment

Krupat suggests the recipient of unwanted comments or conduct speak up. Talk to the perpetrator directly, or take up the issue with a manager, yours or theirs. Your course of action will depend on the gravity of their actions, and how comfortable you feel about approaching that person. “The important thing is to speak to somebody and get this out in the open,” he says.

But what if the harasser is the boss? “Then you’re in a tough spot,” says Krupat, explaining that the power a boss can wield over an employee makes the playing field uneven. In such cases, go see Human Resources, advises lawyer Michael Sherrard with Toronto employment law firm Sherrard Kuzz. HR will let you know whether your company has a policy for dealing with sexual harassment. If it does, you’ll generally find it outlines the procedure for addressing the issue.