Employer resources
Employers are responsible for ensuring a safe and healthy work environment for all workers, free from harassment or a sexualized work environment.
- What is workplace sexual harassment?
- What are my responsibilities as an employer?
- Investigations manual: A trauma-informed approach to addressing workplace sexual harassment
- Best practices for addressing workplace sexual harassment without a report
- Best practices for receiving & responding to disclosures of workplace sexual harassment
- Template: Policy and Procedures
- Survivor-centered and trauma-informed approaches to workplace sexual harassment investigations
- Sexual harassment in the workplace: Vicarious trauma
- Witnessing sexual harassment in the workplace
Workplace sexual harassment is legally defined as:
- Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature
- Detrimentally affects the work environment or leads to adverse job-related consequences
- Does not require intent
- Do not engage in unwanted sexual comments, behavior or touching
- Create procedures for workers to report bullying and harassment
- Create effective procedures for investigating bullying and harassment
Investigations manual
This manual provides the reader with a starting place to consider all the complexities, challenges and competencies required to meaningfully and lawfully address workplace sexual harassment
Your ability to proceed to an investigation is significantly hindered without a report which details who was sexually harassed in the workplace and when. These reports will often simply identify the harasser with few accompanying details. Other times, the witness will identify themselves but the complainant refuses to report.
Disclosing workplace sexual harassment is not the same as reporting workplace sexual harassment. Some complainants may choose to disclose for several reasons including to ask questions, to request an accommodation or to seek personal support.
A trauma-informed approach to workplace sexual harassment investigations means that the investigator is trained to identify trauma and acknowledges that one or more participants involved in an investigation may be experiencing trauma unrelated to the present matter.
Tip sheet for human resources & employees
Sexual harassment in the workplace has the potential not only to harm and traumatize those who are targeted by harassers but it can also erode the feeling of overall safety in the workplace.
Tip sheet for bystanders
Increasingly, employers are offering bystander training for their employees,particularly in labour forces and industries which are typically comprised of men. Bystander training equips you as an employee with the confidence and skills to appropriately respond to sexual harassment in the workplace.