Workplace | Inappropriate behavior is “commonplace”

Inappropriate or discriminatory sexualized behavior in the workplace is “commonplace” and requires major legislative reform, concludes a committee of independent experts in an impressive report released Friday morning. The Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet, claims to take the matter very seriously and promises to follow up on it.

“These are certainly key recommendations that warrant an in-depth analysis,” commented Minister Boulet in a telephone interview with The Press.

Mr. Boulet, who was a labor lawyer before entering politics, said he was “stunned” by the data set out in the nearly 350-page document.

In Quebec, almost one person in two (49%) has observed or experienced “inappropriate sexualized or discriminatory behavior in the workplace” in the past year, point out the authors, who had Quebec data extracted from a survey conducted by Statistics Canada in 2020. Women were twice as likely as men to report having experienced such behaviors (26% and 13% respectively). These behaviors are therefore “commonplace in Quebec workplaces”, write the researchers in support of their 82 recommendations.

“I do not exclude anything at this stage”, indicated the minister, who “assures that it will not be tablet”.

“The profoundly serious and human nature of this phenomenon in the workplace requires diligence on my part,” said Mr. Boulet, specifying that his teams “are in analysis”.

“It won’t be a matter of years, it’s a matter of the next few months. »

Where does this report come from?

This is one of the follow-up given to the Transpartisan Committee on Support for Victims of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, which brought together MNAs from the four parties represented in the National Assembly. Victims in the workplace are faced with a “puzzling” diversity of recourses, which “can even hinder access to justice”, underlined the first report submitted to this cross-party committee at the end of 2020. It would therefore be necessary to mandate a new working group to examine the treatment of this violence, had recommended the authors. This is what Minister Boulet did in January 2022.

What is his main recommendation?

A specialized division for sexual violence, in the spirit of the new Specialized Court for sexual violence and domestic violence, should be created at the Administrative Labor Tribunal (TAT). The Specialized Court, created by the Minister of Justice Simon Jolin-Barrette in the fall of 2021, aims to improve support and support for victims in criminal law matters, but it does not solve labor law problems.

In the workplace, victims “are faced with a complex and fragmented legal framework”, to the point that “the processing of their complaint can constitute a process of secondary victimization”, deplores the committee made up of three university professors. These victims may “be imposed evidentiary requirements that go beyond even those of criminal law”, denounce the authors.

Is it really that important? We never hear about it…

A “minimal proportion” of victims makes “a formal denunciation”, which leads to “an under-representation of situations of harassment and sexual assault”, explains the report.

In construction, for example, sexual harassment is the form of harassment and intimidation most often experienced by women. But these, like their male colleagues, “come to normalize situations that would be deemed unacceptable in other industrial sectors,” noted the Commission de la construction du Québec. Fear of reprisals and difficulties in accessing remedies also contribute to under-reporting in this sector.

Moreover, almost all non-unionized workers file a complaint after leaving their job. Beyond the reparations granted to them, it is necessary “to ensure that the perpetrators of the harassment cannot make other victims”, argue the authors.

What else do we offer?

The Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) should treat cases of psychological harassment of a sexual nature as a priority, and offer the complainant to accompany him during mediation, recommends the report.

The TAT should also be able to order a CNESST review in the workplace concerned, even if the victim is no longer there. Legal presumptions should also be created in favor of the victims so that, for example, an illness occurring after sexual violence at work is presumed to be an employment injury. Measures to put an end to the “undercompensation” of workers under the age of 18 who are still studying are also recommended.

The report Putting an end to sexual harassment in the workplace: giving yourself the means to actby professors Rachel Cox (UQAM), Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau (Université de Montréal) and Anne-Marie Laflamme (Université Laval), will be posted on the Ministry of Labor website.

With the collaboration of Tommy Chouinard and Fanny Lévesque, The Press