“Employers have to remember that if something comes to your attention, you have to investigate it and you have to take complaints seriously – and this doesn’t just apply to incidents of sexual harassment, it also applies if you become aware of a poisoned work environment.”
So says Jon Pinkus, a partner with the Labour and Employment practice group at Samfiru Tumarkin in Toronto, after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice quashed an arbitrator’s ruling that reinstated five Metrolinx workers who were fired for vulgar and sexually charged comments about co-workers in private text messages.
“If you don’t do something about that, then you risk violating occupational health and safety legislation, you risk claims of constructive dismissal, and you risk seriously impacting morale at work,” he says.
