Reporting Workplace Sexual Harassment is a personal choice that belongs solely to the worker experiencing it. Understanding your options for a formal complaint is a great place to start.
Jaymie Sorro (she/her) | 204-784-4049 | wsh@klinic.mb.ca
The Community Legal Education Association of Manitoba (CLEA) has a Law Phone-In & Lawyer Referral Program that provides:
-general legal information and advice over the phone in response to callers’ inquiries,
-if appropriate, referrals to law-related agencies,
-in appropriate situations, a referral to a lawyer on the Lawyer Referral panel. The first consultation with that lawyer is free (up to half an hour). If we refer you to a lawyer, we will need your name and address for the confirmation letter sent to you and the lawyer.
To reach the Law Phone-In & Lawyer Referral Program, call 204-943-2305 or toll free 1-800-262-8800 (from outside Winnipeg only please). Our phone hours are 9 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday.
By law in Manitoba (only since 2021), your workplace must have a policy for dealing with harassment complaints. This policy must tell you about the process for making a complaint to your employer. If you choose to make a complaint at your workplace, you should consult your workplace’s policy and follow the procedure set out.
If you want more information about your rights as a worker, the responsibilities of your employer, and the legislation relating to Workplace Sexual Harassment in Manitoba, you can visit CLEA’s Workplace Sexual Harassment Project’s Website. You can also find helpful resources on Courage to Act’s website designed to help address and prevent gender-based violence at post-secondary institutions.
All employees have the right to work without being sexually harassed, and the right to file a complaint with Manitoba Human Rights Commission—even if you have already made a complaint at your workplace. However, you only have one year from when the incident happened to make a complaint to the Commission. You also do not have to first report to your workplace in order to make a complaint.
The Human Rights Commission may try to resolve the complaint through mediation or a settlement. If these are not successful, the matter may go to a hearing. You may want to have a lawyer represent you in this process.
If you are employed by the Federal Government, or work in a field regulated by the Federal Government, you have the right to make a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
In Manitoba, many professionals are required to be a member of a regulatory body. If the person who behaved in a sexually inappropriate way to you belongs to a regulated profession, you may consider making a complaint to the body who oversees their professional conduct. Immigrate Manitoba has a list of the most common professions with regulatory bodies and the links to their websites.
The Government of Canada website provides information including resources about sexual misconduct. The website includes a link to the Sexual Misconduct Response Centre which operates outside of the Chain of Command.
