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ARTICLE · 19 JULY 2016

Workplace Harassment – Evolving Obligations For Employers

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Recent high-profile sexual harassment cases demonstrate the devastating impact on individual employees, as well as the fallout to an organization when a culture of harassment is permitted to exist.

CanadaEmployment and HR
Lorenzo Lisi
Lorenzo Lisi
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Recent high-profile sexual harassment cases demonstrate the devastating impact on individual employees, as well as the fallout to an organization when a culture of harassment is permitted to exist.

In the 2014 decision of the Divisional Court of Ontario in Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board v. Fair, the panel upheld the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario's decision that had held that the School Board had not adequately accommodated the employee, Ms. Fair, who suffered from generalized anxiety disorder. The Divisional Court upheld the Tribunal's decision that the employee be reinstated and provided with $420,000 in back wages. The case set the high-water mark for damage awards of this kind in Canada.

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