Human rights issues continue to be amongst the most common and tricky issues affecting employers today. The issue of sexual harassment was one of the top news stories of 2017 and continues to make headlines in 2018. It directly relates to a human rights issue in the workplace.
Sexual Harassment
While sexual harassment is unfortunately not a new issue facing employers, as a result of the news cycle we are experiencing an increase in the number of such complaints. We recommend that employers take the following proactive measures to address the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace:
- Review your existing policies and consider whether they are sufficiently robust and whether additional tools are necessary to assist those within your organization who have responsibility for implementing your sexual harassment policy;
- Ensure that your policy includes a complaint and investigation mechanism;
- Consider how the findings in an investigation will be communicated to the parties involved in an investigation;
- Train all employees on your policy on a regular basis;
- Ensure that your policy is readily available to employees by posting it on your company intranet, in your employee lounge and emailing employees a copy and reminding them where electronic versions of the policy are located.
For more detailed guidance, please see "2.0 Approach to Sexual Harassment” .