Workplace Sexual Harassment: Assessing the Effectiveness of Human Rights Law in Canada

La professeure Bethany Hastie, LLM’12, DCL’15, Peter A. Allard School of Law (UBC), présentera son rapport de recherche analysant les plaintes de harcèlement sexuel en milieu de travail dans le cadre des lois des droits de la personne. Organisé par la Chaire Oppenheimer en droit public international.

[En anglais seulement] Sparked by the #MeToo movement, social commentary and media have revived broad-based discussions concerning sexual harassment and misconduct in contemporary workplaces. Evidence suggests that legal claims concerning sexual harassment and misconduct are increasingly being pursued through human rights tribunals. However, there is reason for concern that the increasingly documented issues attending victims of sexual assault and gender-based violence in the criminal justice system may arise in complaints of sexual harassment under human rights law as well. This lecture draws on a report that analyzed substantive decisions on the merits concerning workplace sexual harassment at each of the BC and Ontario Human Rights Tribunals from 2000-2018, with a view to identifying how the law of sexual harassment is understood, interpreted and applied by the Tribunals’ adjudicators. In particular, this lecture focuses on demonstrating how gender-based stereotypes and myths known to occur in criminal justice proceedings arise in the human rights context for sexual harassment complainants.

La conférencière

[En anglais seulement] Bethany Hastie is an Assistant Professor at the Peter Allard School of Law at UBC. She holds a DCL and LLM from McGill University and a JD from UBC. Bethany’s research examines precarious labour in the intersection spaces of human rights, immigration, and labour and employment law. Her recently completed report, “Workplace Sexual Harassment: Assessing the Effectiveness of Human Rights Law in Canada” was completed with funding from the Canadian Bar Association Law for the Future Fund. Her work on sexual harassment law is forthcoming in the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, and has been presented in academic and practice settings across Canada.

Cette activité est admissible pour 1,5 heures de formation continue obligatoire tel que déclaré par les membres du Barreau du Québec.