{"id":25371,"date":"2010-06-24T17:18:11","date_gmt":"2010-06-24T17:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toronto-employmentlawyer.com\/?p=323"},"modified":"2023-12-21T21:20:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T21:20:02","slug":"sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toronto-employmentlawyer.com\/blog\/harassment-and-bullying\/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual Harassment in the Workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By: C\u00e9dric P. Lamarche<br \/>\nAn article published in the Toronto Star this summer discussed the case of a young black woman who was sexually harassed and was the object of racial taunts at work.<br \/>\nThe woman subject to the reprehensible conduct, worked at Toronto Western Hospital\u2019s imaging department as an imaging technologist.\u00a0 The author of the article reports that the inappropriate conduct towards the young woman included the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Displaying racially charged cartoons in the workplace;<\/li>\n<li>Making statements such as \u201cDon\u2019t beat me up massa\u201d and\u00a0 \u201cGet up, give me your seat and go make me some stew\u201d;<\/li>\n<li>Inappropriate and suggestive touching, such as massaging her shoulders;<\/li>\n<li>Stating \u201cI wish you weren\u2019t wearing a shirt or bra, that way I could give you a better massage\u201d;<\/li>\n<li>Calling her Shaniqua, Chaka Khan, La Toya and Dark Walker; and<\/li>\n<li>Throwing her credentials badge on the floor and whipping a bottle cap at her legs while she bent over to pick it up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This conduct, according to the article, started only 9 days after the woman\u2019s first day on the job.\u00a0 She complained to management, but her complaints fell on deaf ears and were ignored for 16 months.\u00a0 During this time, the conduct continued and rumors quickly spread through the Hospital.\u00a0 Many of her colleagues formulated their own conclusions and impressions regarding her complaints.\u00a0 Only once the woman&#8217;s complaints reach the ears of a senior manager, a formal internal investigation was launched and, according to the article, confirmed the inappropriate conduct.<br \/>\nEmployees who believe that they are being subjected to discriminatory conduct at work should not dismiss the inappropriate behaviour.\u00a0 It is paramount that the employees review any discrimination and\/or harassment policies implemented in their workplace and follow their protocol.\u00a0 Note that as of June 15, 2010, employers in Ontario have an obligation to formulate policies addressing workplace harassment and violence, due to the recent amendments to the <em>Occupational Health and Safety Act<\/em>.<br \/>\nEmployees are also encouraged to consult with employment law experts to review their case.\u00a0 Even if an internal investigation is conducted, the employer may be liable to the employee if they do not abide by strict guidelines dictated by law.\u00a0 Situations of discrimination or harassment can give rise to cases of constructive dismissals, in addition to human rights violations. \u00a0In this case, despite the Hospital\u2019s investigation into the matter and despite any affirmative actions taken by the Hospital to remedy the poisoned work environment, the Hospital\u2019s unreasonable delay in addressing her complaints may sufficiently demonstrate that the employee \u2013 employer relationship has been tainted to the point where continued employment would be intolerable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An article by  Michele Henry published in the Toronto Star on June 21, 2010, discusses the case of a young black woman who was sexually harassed and was the object of racial taunts at work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":239786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[77,252,22,16,253,254,25,255],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.6 (Yoast SEO v22.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sexual Harassment in the Workplace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An article in the Toronto Star on June 21, 2010 discusses the case of a young woman who was sexually harassed and was the object of racial taunts at work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/toronto-employmentlawyer.com\/blog\/harassment-and-bullying\/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sexual Harassment in the Workplace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An article in the Toronto Star on June 21, 2010 discusses the case of a young woman who was sexually harassed and was the object of racial taunts at work.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/toronto-employmentlawyer.com\/blog\/harassment-and-bullying\/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Whitten &amp; 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