Bullying And Harassment In The Workplace: Check Your Policies

Last week, we discussed a recent Ontario case where four former employees of Soulpepper Theatre filed sexual harassment suits alleging sexual touching, groping and harassment over a period 13 years. Harassment in the workplace can take many different forms, and despite the recent Hollywood #TimesUp campaign, bullying remains a serious and persistent problem in the workplace. 

Bullying and harassment in the employment context is most often defined as conduct by a "person" that the person knows or reasonably ought to know would cause an employee to be humiliated or intimidated. A "person" can include the employer, supervisor, co-worker, client, member of the public or anyone an employee comes into contact with in the workplace. Given recent caselaw, employers may also be under a legal duty to protect employees from work-related harassment on social media.