From Sexual to Psychological Harassment: One Step Forward, Twenty-Five Years Back for Women's Equality at Work?

• Author: Rachel Cox
• Profession: Professor of law at the Faculty of Political Science and Law of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) and a member of the Québec Bar
• Pages: 237-278

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chapter 9

FROM SEXUAL TO PSYCHOLOGICAL

HARASSMENT: ONE STEP FORWARD,

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS BACK FOR

WOMEN’S EQUALITY AT WORK?

Rachel Cox 1

A. INTRODUCTION

In 2004, adoption of legislation guaranteeing a work environment free

from psychological harassment i n Québec appeared to be a victory for

all employees, but particularly so for women. Psychological harassment

itself is a gendered phenomenon. In Québec, as is the situation else-

where, women are more often than men the ta rgets of psychologica l

harassment, and men are more often than women the ones doing the

harassing.2 It would appear that gender even trumps hierarchical rela-

1 Rachel Cox is a profe ssor of law at the Facult y of Political Science a nd Law

of the Universit é du Québec à Montréal (UQÀ M) and a member of the Qué-

bec Bar.

2 Katherine Lippel, “ Le harcèlement psy chologique au travai l : portrait des

recours jur idiques au Québec et des dé cisions rendues par l a Commission

des lésions professi onnelles” (2005) 7:3 Perspective s interdiscipl inaires

sur le trava il et la santé (PIST ES), online: PISTES w ww.pistes.uqam.ca/

v7n3/pdf/v7 n3a13.pdf; Carole Dupéré, “ Pour en connaîtr e d’avantage

sur les person nes ayant porté pla inte pour harcèleme nt psychologique à

la Commiss ion des normes du travai l” (2009) 5 Regards sur le travai l 40;

Ruth Simpson & Cl aire Cohen, “Danger ous Work; The Gendered Natu re

of Bullyi ng in the Context of Hig her Education” (2004) 11:2 Gender, Work

and Organ isation 163. For racia lized women, see Sus y Fox & Lamont E

Stallwor th, “Race and Et hnicity as Fac tors in Workplace Bully ing” (Paper

delivered at t he symposium Work, Stres s, and Health Ma rch 2008 Confer-

ence, Washing ton, DC) [Fox & Stallwort h, “Race and Et hnicity”]. Care ful

analysi s is necessary t o determine to wha t extent the sexu al segregation

of the labour m arket and the nat ure of typica l women’s work are related to

these ndings.

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tionships at work, as hierarchica l power in the workplace insu lates men,

but not women, from hara ssment by their hierar chical subordinat es.3

Power and specically unequa l power relationships are centra l to

the notion of psychologica l harassment,4 just as they are to sexual ha-

rassment5 and racial harassment.6 Research on incivility and harass-

ment in the workplace reveals a latent, systemically discriminator y

element even in cases in which the incivilit y or harassment initially

appears to be of a purely individua l nature.7 At the same t ime, blatant

sex and race discrimination has become less socially acceptable.8 This

suggests t hat in the current lega l framework, psychological h arassment

legislation could be a crucial addition to human rights legislation in

order to protect women workers from more insidious manifestations of

power imbala nces between men and women. Recours e in cases of psycho-

3 Katherine Lippe l et al., “Chapitre 5: Violence au tr avail : harcèle ment

psychologique, h arcèlement sexuel e t violence physique” in Ins titut na-

tional de sa nté publique du Québec, In stitut de la sta tistique du Québec e t

Instit ut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en s anté et sécurité du t ravail, Enquêt e

québécoise sur des conditi ons de travail d’emploi et de santé et de sécurité du

travail (EQCOTESST) (Montréal: I RSST, 2011) at 335 [EQCOTESST], onli ne:

Instit ut national de san té publique du Québec ww w.inspq.qc.ca/pdf/publi-

cations/1336_EnqQuebCondTravailEmpSantSecTravail.pdf.

4 Denise Salin , “Workplace Bullyi ng among Business P rofessionals: Pre va-

lence, Gender Di erences and the Role of Org anizationa l Politics” (2005)

7:3 Perspect ives interdiscipl inaires su r le travail et la s anté (PISTES), on-

line: PISTES www.pistes.uqam.ca/v7n3/pdf/v7n3a2en.pdf.

5 Catharine Mac Kinnon, The S exual Harassment of Working Women: A Cas e of

Sex Discrimin ation (New Haven, CT: Yale Universit y Press, 1979) [MacKin-

non, Sexual Harass ment].

6 Qué bec (Commission des droits de la per sonne et des droits de la jeunesse) c Qué-

bec (Procure ur général), 2008 QCTDP 8 at paras 1 23 [Pavilus].

7 For example, higher preva lence rates of haras sment for Africa n-American

teachers dro pped o when school princip als were also A frican-America ns.

Perpetra tors tend to select rac ial and ethn ic minorities as t he targets of

their (appare ntly) purely psycholog ical harassme nt. See Fox & Stallwor th,

“Race and Et hnicity,” above note 2. See a lso Susy Fox & Lamont E Sta ll-

worth, “R acial/ethnic Bu llying: Ex ploring the Lin ks between Bul lying and

Racism in t he U.S. Workplace” (2005) 66 Journal of Vocational Be havior 438.

8 Sa ndy Lim & Lili a M Cortina, “I nterpersonal M istreatment i n the Work-

place: The Inter face and Impact of G eneral Incivi lity and Sexu al Harass-

ment” (2005) 90 Journal of Appl ied Psychology 483; Li lia M Cortin a,

“Unseen Inju stice: Incivi lity as Modern Di scrimin ation in Organi zations”

(2008) 33 Academy of Manageme nt Review 55; Ruth Simpson & C laire

Cohen, “Dangero us Work; The Gendered Natu re of Bullying i n the Context

of Higher Educat ion” (2004) 11:2 Gender, Work and Organisat ion 163.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

From Sexual to P sychological Harassm ent

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logical haras sment is thus potentia lly one more tool in women’s struggle

for equalit y in the workplace.

In Québec, provis ions on psychological ha rassment are housed i n the

Act respecting Labour Standards.9 Psychologica l harassment is dene d as:

. . . any vexatious behaviour in the form of repeated and hostile or

unwanted conduct, verbal comments, actions or ges tures, that af-

fects an employee’s dignity or psychological or physical integrity

and that res ults in a harm ful work environme nt for the employee.

A single seriou s incidence of such behaviour that has a lasting

harmf ul eect on an employee may also constitute psychological

harassment.10

The denition of psychological harassment is largely inspired by

the denition of sexual ha rassment laid out by the Supreme Court of

Canada in t he landmark Janzen v Platy Enterpr ises Ltd case11 and elabor-

ated on by the Québec Cour t of Appeal in Habachi c Québec (Commiss ion

des droits de la personne).12 It is common ground that the denition of

psychological ha rassment encompasses all forms of discriminatory

harassment i ncluding sexual a nd racial harass ment.13

The non-unionized employee who believes that she or he is being

harassed at work ca n lay a complaint with the Labour Standards Com-

mission as soon as her or his dignity is aected. The Commission con-

ducts an investigation into the complaint and works w ith the par ties

in an attempt to settle the compla int.14 If the Commission considers

the complaint to be wel l-founded and attempts at mediation are un-

successful , the Commission’s litigation depar tment assumes carr iage of

the complaint (at no charge to the worker) before the Labour Relations

Board.15 The Labour Re lations Board then holds a hear ing and renders a

decision on t he complaint.16

9 RSQ 1979, c N-1.1 [Labour Standards A ct].

10 Ibid, s81.18.

11 Janzen v Platy Enter prises Ltd., [1989] 1 SCR 1252 [Janzen].

12 Habachi c Québec (Commi ssion des droits de la personne), 1999 CanLI I 13338

(QC CA).

13 JurisCla sseur Rapports individuel s et collectifs du travail, fas c 23 by Katherine

Lippel, Rac hel Cox, & Isabelle Aubé , No 321 [JurisCl asseur].

14 Labour Standards Act, ab ove note 9, ss123.8, 123.10, and 123 .12.

15 Ibid, ss123.12–123.13.

16 Ibid, ss123.14–123.16.