Workplace harassment in Ontario is unwelcome workplace conduct that crosses the legal line—typically a course of comments or behaviour that a person knows, or should reasonably know, is unwelcome. It can include repeated intimidation, humiliation, bullying, abusive comments, sexual harassment, discriminatory harassment and online harassment.
Your employer has legal duties to prevent and respond to workplace harassment. When an incident or complaint comes to its attention, it must ensure that an investigation appropriate in the circumstances is conducted.
If harassment has made your job unbearable, don’t resign before getting legal advice. Serious or unresolved harassment can contribute to constructive dismissal in Ontario and a claim for termination compensation. Leaving too quickly can put those rights at risk.
On This Page:
- 1. What Is Workplace Harassment?
- 2. Examples of Workplace Harassment
- 3. What Must Your Employer Do?
- 4. Harassment, Human Rights & Retaliation
- 5. Can Harassment Lead to Severance?
- 6. What Should You Do?
- 7. Get Legal Help
What Is Workplace Harassment in Ontario?
Workplace harassment under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) involves a course of vexatious comments or conduct against a worker that is known, or should reasonably be known, to be unwelcome.
In plain language, it covers patterns of inappropriate workplace behaviour that a person knows—or reasonably should know—the employee does not welcome.
Harassment can come from a supervisor, manager, coworker, customer, client or another person you deal with through work. It can happen face-to-face or virtually through email, text messages, workplace chat platforms, video calls and other electronic communication.
Ontario’s workplace-harassment rules are primarily found in the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Harassment connected to a protected personal characteristic can also violate the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Can workplace harassment happen online?
Yes. Ontario’s workplace-harassment rules include harassment that occurs virtually through information and communications technology.
Abusive emails, humiliating group-chat messages, repeated online targeting, sexual messages or other unwelcome virtual behaviour can therefore be workplace harassment just as in-person conduct can.
Examples of Workplace Harassment in Ontario
Workplace harassment can include repeated conduct that humiliates, intimidates, degrades or targets an employee.
Examples can include:
- Repeated insults, ridicule or humiliating remarks
- Yelling, intimidation or aggressive verbal behaviour
- Persistent offensive jokes or comments
- Repeatedly undermining, isolating or targeting an employee
- Abusive or degrading emails, texts or workplace chat messages
- Sexual comments, advances or other unwelcome sexual behaviour
- Racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist or other discriminatory comments
- Repeated threats or conduct intended to humiliate or intimidate a worker
Repeated intimidation, humiliation and similar conduct is often described as workplace bullying in Ontario. Bullying is not a separate OHSA category, but bullying behaviour can meet the legal definition of workplace harassment.
Is a difficult boss workplace harassment?
Not necessarily. Reasonable management action is not workplace harassment.
Your employer is allowed to manage your performance, give legitimate criticism, assign work, set expectations, change business priorities and impose reasonable discipline.
But management authority is not a licence to abuse an employee. Personal attacks, repeated humiliation, discriminatory remarks or other unreasonable conduct do not become acceptable simply because they happen during performance management.
Is sexual harassment workplace harassment?
Yes. Workplace sexual harassment is specifically addressed under Ontario law.
It can include unwelcome sexual comments, sexualized jokes, inappropriate touching, sexual advances, requests for sexual favours and other unwelcome sex- or gender-related conduct.
See our complete guide to sexual harassment at work in Ontario.
What Must Your Employer Do About Workplace Harassment?
Ontario employers covered by the OHSA have specific legal duties to prevent and respond to workplace harassment.
Employers must prepare a workplace-harassment policy and develop and maintain a program to implement it. Where six or more workers are regularly employed, the policy must be in writing and posted conspicuously, subject to the OHSA’s requirements.
The workplace-harassment program must include a process for workers to report incidents or complaints. It must also provide another reporting route when the employer or supervisor is the alleged harasser.
Does your employer have to investigate a harassment complaint?
Yes. When an incident or complaint of workplace harassment comes to the employer’s attention, it must ensure that an investigation appropriate in the circumstances is conducted.
What an appropriate investigation looks like depends on the allegations. A serious complaint involving several witnesses can require a more extensive process than a straightforward incident with limited disputed facts.
The investigator should gather the relevant information, speak with the people involved and assess the evidence fairly. An external investigator is not automatically required in every case, but the investigation must be appropriate for the situation.
The worker who complained and the alleged harasser, if that person is a worker, must be informed in writing of the investigation results and any corrective action that has been or will be taken.
What if your employer ignores your harassment complaint?
An employer can’t simply ignore its OHSA workplace-harassment obligations.
If your employer refuses to investigate appropriately or does not follow its harassment program, you can raise the issue with Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
A Ministry inspector can examine whether the employer is complying with the OHSA. Other legal claims—such as human-rights compensation, retaliation or constructive dismissal—can involve separate processes and remedies.
When Is Workplace Harassment a Human Rights Violation?
Workplace harassment is a Human Rights Code issue when the harassment is connected to a characteristic protected by the Code.
Examples include harassment connected to:
- Race, colour, ancestry, ethnic origin or place of origin
- Disability
- Sex, pregnancy or breastfeeding
- Sexual orientation
- Gender identity or gender expression
- Age
- Creed or religion
- Marital or family status
Not all workplace harassment is discrimination. Ontario’s OHSA workplace-harassment rules are broader and do not require the conduct to be connected to a Human Rights Code ground.
If the conduct is tied to a protected characteristic, read our guide to workplace discrimination in Ontario.
Can you receive compensation for discriminatory harassment?
Yes. When workplace harassment violates the Human Rights Code, financial and other remedies can be available.
Depending on what happened, compensation can address lost income and the injury to your dignity, feelings and self-respect. Other orders can be made to address or prevent further discrimination.
Can your employer retaliate against you for reporting harassment?
Your employer can’t lawfully punish you for exercising protected workplace rights.
Retaliation can include firing you, demoting you, cutting your hours, imposing improper discipline, threatening negative consequences or otherwise penalizing you because you raised a protected complaint.
The exact legal protection depends on the right you exercised. Ontario’s OHSA contains reprisal protections, and the Human Rights Code separately prohibits reprisal for claiming or enforcing Code rights.
Learn more about workplace retaliation in Ontario.
Can Workplace Harassment Lead to Severance or Constructive Dismissal?
Yes. Serious or persistent workplace harassment can contribute to constructive dismissal when it fundamentally damages the employment relationship.
This can arise when management itself engages in serious harassment or when an employer knows about significant ongoing harassment and fails to address it appropriately.
Harassment does not automatically mean you have been constructively dismissed. The question is whether what happened—and how your employer responded—was serious enough to fundamentally breach your employment relationship.
If you have been constructively dismissed, you can treat the employment relationship as having ended and pursue the termination compensation you are legally owed.
For many non-unionized employees, full common-law compensation is substantially greater than employment-standards minimums. Depending on factors such as age, position, length of service and the availability of similar employment, severance in Ontario can reach 24 months’ pay.
How do you prove workplace harassment in Ontario?
You prove workplace harassment with specific evidence showing what happened, when it happened, who was involved and how your employer responded.
Useful evidence can include:
- Emails and text messages
- Workplace chat messages and screenshots
- Contemporaneous notes or a dated incident log
- Written complaints to HR or management
- Responses from your employer
- Witness information
- Investigation documents and written findings
- Medical records where the harassment has affected your health
You do not need a perfect file before raising a legitimate concern. But specific dates, words, conduct and documents are much more useful than a general statement that the workplace feels unfair or toxic.
What Should You Do If You’re Being Harassed at Work?
If you are experiencing workplace harassment, document what is happening, use the appropriate reporting process and get legal advice before making a permanent decision about your job.
Take these steps where appropriate:
- Create a timeline. Record dates, locations, what was said or done, who was present and what happened afterward.
- Preserve relevant evidence. Keep emails, texts, screenshots and other documents you are lawfully entitled to retain.
- Review the workplace-harassment policy. Identify who complaints should be made to and whether there is an alternate reporting person.
- Put serious complaints in writing. Be specific and factual. Explain the conduct you are reporting and identify supporting evidence or witnesses.
- Keep a record of the employer’s response. Note whether an investigation occurred, what you were told and whether the conduct continued.
- Get medical help if your health is being affected. Harassment can cause significant anxiety, depression and other health problems. If necessary, learn about your rights on stress leave in Ontario.
- Don’t stop attending work without advice. Workplace harassment does not automatically give an employee the right to simply stop reporting for work.
- Get legal advice before resigning or signing anything. A resignation, settlement or release can permanently affect your rights.
Can you refuse to work because of workplace harassment?
Harassment by itself does not automatically give you the right to stop working or leave the workplace.
Different OHSA rules can apply where there is a genuine risk of workplace violence or physical danger. If you are unsure whether you can refuse work, get advice rather than simply walking off the job.
For a broader overview of employee rights in the province, see our Ontario employment law resources.
Get Help With Workplace Harassment in Ontario
You don’t have to determine on your own whether workplace conduct has crossed the legal line or whether it is safe to resign.
The Ontario employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP can review what happened, the evidence you have, your harassment complaint, the investigation and your employer’s response.
We can determine whether your situation raises workplace-harassment, human-rights, retaliation or constructive-dismissal concerns and explain what compensation or other legal remedies are available—and how we can get it for you.
If you work in Toronto or the GTA, our Toronto workplace harassment lawyers can help you understand your options before you resign, sign a settlement or make another permanent decision about your employment. Our firm also has Ottawa workplace harassment lawyers and Windsor workplace harassment lawyers who can work to protect your rights.