Sexual Harassment In The Workplace: Manitoba Employers Take Note

Sexual harassment is an uncomfortable topic. It is also a high profile topic. Most business leaders have become aware that the time to get their respectful workplace houses in order is now, and a recent series of human rights adjudication decisions have reinforced the message.  Employers, businesses and institutions not only have legal duties to provide an environment free of sexual harassment, but ignoring these duties could cause permanent damage to reputation and the bottom line.

In a decision released in April 2013¹, a Manitoba adjudicator dealt with a complaint involving a retail store employee who had been subjected to a lengthy and ongoing course of sexual harassment by a customer.  Both the employee and the store owner agreed that shortly after the customer's conduct began, the employee had asked her employer to end the harassment. The owner spoke to the offending customer, but there was disagreement about whether the harassment ended when the customer was