The Pros And Cons Of Workplace Harassment

Workplace harassment is a significant violation in the modern work environment. According to the Canadian Human Rights Commission Workplace harassment "involves any unwanted physical or verbal behaviour that offends or humiliates you...Serious one-time incidents can also sometimes be considered harassment." (Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2013) If left uncheck accusations of workplace harassment could potentially put a business in trouble with the regulatory agencies. In the workplace, employees experience sexual, gender, and racial/ethnic harassment. The Ontario Ministry of Labour has developed recommendations and guidance as a way to cut the occurrences of workplace harassment. On the other hand, employers also a responsibility to put

According to Ontario law, employers, managers, and unions have to thwart and check for occurrences of workplace harassment, according to the “Ontario human rights code.” (Labour, 2015) Additionally, employers must also provide training on workplace harassment when they hire new employees. In doing so, employees become more aware of types of workplace harassment so that they know the signs of abuse. Harassment in the workplace is also considered an ethical issue because many people have morals. Our morals help us decide if an action by a person or an organisation is right or wrong by asking ourselves the simple question “is this right?” “do I agree?” By following our code of ethic we avoid actions that create a conflict of interest such as fraud, inappropriate behaviour, and various types of

At first, I thought, “she probably knew the guy” and that “she could handle it on her own.” Until I noticed something was wrong: My co-worker looked very uncomfortable, like she wanted to go anywhere else. Apparently the customer thought that my coworkers did not offer satisfactory customer service, the customer started to hurl offensive and degrading remarks. When my colleague walked away, the customer began following her and yelling at her and even went as far as grabbing her arm. Although the incident didn’t look like it was a big deal, I have always been told you can’t touch anyone no matter what. According to the OHSA, this incident could be classified as workplace violence /harassment because the customer exercised physical force against my co-worker in the work environment. (Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2013) The situation was getting out of hand. I thought to myself “how can I intervene?” I concluded that it was my duty to speak up by challenging the harasser, reporting the incident, and ignoring questions challenging my