Le harcèlement sexuel en milieu de travail

Résumé

Après avoir propose une définition de la notion de harcèlement sexuel, l'auteur analyse ces éléments cruciaux de l'affaire Robichaud en Cour suprême du Canada qui sous-tendent le besoin pour l'entreprise d'adopter un programme concernant ce problème.

Abstract

Over the past few years our Courts have been dealing with an increasingly high number of cases involving sexual harassment in the workplace. This article is divided in two chapters. The first chapter overviews a number of cases where, from facts and pertinent legislation, our Courts have, in someway, circumscribed this notion of sexual harassment in the workplace. From this analysis, the author suggests that repeated, persistent, unsolicited and unwelcomed sexual intrusions, whether verbal or physically acted, should be considered as sexual harassment.

The second chapter examines the liability of both the agressor and the employer towards the aggressee; On the employers liability, a recent Supreme Court judgment is studied by the author: Robichaud c. Canada (The Treasury Board). This decision is discussed while the author underlines the employer's obligations on preventing, inquiring and treating sexual harassment in its work force. In other words, the author serves this analysis as a portrait of the law as it exists today on such a controversed, delicate and evolving subject.