Canadian Employment Law Today

Sexual harassment in the workplace Newsmaking incidents have organizations considering the implications of the problem and how best to deal with and prevent it BY MELISSA CAMPEAU T he past few months have seen an unprecedented wave of sexual ha- rassment claims against literally dozens of high profile men includ- ing Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Matt Lauer. Employers are reacting to the claims with increasing speed. e Weinstein Company eventually fired Weinstein after months — by some accounts years — of speculation. Netflix suspended production on House of Cards just one day after the first claim of sexual harassment surfaced against Spacey, and NBC appears to have fired Lauer almost immediately, before the first complaint be - came public. As the depth and extent of the problem comes to light, there's a growing awareness among employers of the need to address it. "All the focus in the media is encouraging many of our clients to take a good long look at their policies and practices around sexual harassment and revisit any strategies they have for prevention," says Cissy Pau, prin - cipal consultant with Clear HR Consulting in Vancouver. Workplace impact e impact of sexual harassment in the workplace can be devastating to an in- dividual, and costly to an organization. According to research by Equal Rights Advocates in the United States, 90 to 95 per cent of sexually harassed women ex- perience anxiety, depression, headaches, sleep disorders, weight gain or loss, nau- sea and lowered self-esteem, among other symptoms. e organization estimates that results in 973,000 hours of unpaid leave each year in the U.S. When harassment is witnessed or even just whispered about within an organiza- tion, it takes a toll on the workforce as a whole. Barbara Bowes, president of Legacy Bowes Group in Winnipeg, says, "Sexual harassment can lead to staff turnover, low productivity and low morale, as well as a hostile work environment." And then there's the reputational hit. "Social media being what it is, somebody will hear about it and put it on Facebook or glassdoor.com and the repercussions can be huge," says Pau. "Customers see your com - pany differently and candidates will think twice about whether they want to work there." Underlying causes Tackling the problem means under- standing its causes. A 2009 study by re- searchers at the University of Minnesota found women supervisors were 137 per cent more likely to be sexually harassed than women who did not hold manage- rial roles. Primary investigator Heather McLaughlin commented, "is study provides the strongest evidence to date supporting the theory that sexual ha- rassment is less about sexual desire than about control and domination." She add- ed, "Male co-workers, clients and super- visors seem to be using harassment as an equalizer against women in power." Change, in some cases, happens slowly. Sexual harassment wasn't recognized as a form of discrimination when parliament passed the Canadian Human Rights Act in 1977. It was added to the act in 1983 and the Supreme Court confirmed its definition in 1989. If mindsets can be slow to change, actions can lag further behind. "What was once tolerated isn't okay anymore," says Pau. "You might assume people know that, but sometimes they don't." Still a mainly silent problem An organization not flooded by sexual harassment complaints might assume it doesn't have a problem, but that's not necessarily the case. A recent survey by Cosmopolitan magazine found one in three women surveyed between the ages of 18 and 34 reported they had been sex- ually harassed at work. However, only 29 per cent of the women who had experi- enced harassment reported it. Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away, however. "If you have a workplace that doesn't take steps to address the prob- lem, then the issues fester and they don't go away," says Heather MacKenzie, principal with e Integrity Group: Respectful Work- place Solutions, in Vancouver. "at's when you really start to have negative impacts," she adds. Address and prevent the problem Experts suggest several measures to en- courage employees to come forward, to address the problem and to deter sexual harassment in the first place. First, an organization needs a clear policy that outlines what is and isn't appropriate workplace behaviour, then they need to up- date that policy regularly, says Kerry Weke- lo, managing director of human resources and operations for Actualize Consulting in New York City. "Every organization should have a clear policy about sexual harassment that includes how to report an incident and the consequences for the harasser," says Wekelo. Training, too, should be refreshed and repeated on a regular basis. "I spoke to one individual who is a contractor and has been with a company for 20 years and I asked him, 'When's the last time you had sexual harassment training?' and he said 20 years ago.' ings have changed tremendously since then," says Wekelo. "I'd suggest a re - fresher training course every year or so." Part of any training should include en- couraging employees to speak up when there's inappropriate behaviour. "It's about developing trust in the workplace, where ev- eryone feels safe," says MacKenzie. "Anyone who finds themselves in a situation where they're being harassed has to feel they can say, that's not okay for me, and not fear re - percussions or feel their life is going to be- come more complicated if they speak up." Simplifying the process of making a for- mal complaint can help bring these issues to light. "One option is to set up an online 4 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 CASE IN POINT: SEXUAL HARASSMENT THE NEWS is full of stories about sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. It's brought attention to something most women have known for a long time — despite perceived advances in sexual and gender rights, sexual harassment is still all-too common in all industries. But with more stories coming to light and movements such as the #MeToo social media movement pushing for real change, employers must face the reality that sexual harassment exists in the workplace and something real must be done about it. BACKGROUND

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