60 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
IN-HOUSE ADVISOR
Recent high-profile allegations of sexual harassment
have reinforced the importance of strong workplace policies,
but changing the corporate culture has to start at the top
BY ANTHONY DAVIS ILLUSTRATION BY SÉBASTIEN THIBAULT
Zero
Tolerance
AMERICA'S BUSINESS, entertainment and political worlds
have been shaken as successive waves of sexual harassment allegations
break over their stars, hosts, executives and other powerful males. In
Canada, meanwhile, corporate leaders and their legal advisors may, as
they watch the events unfold in the south, take some comfort in the
hope that they're in a somewhat better place when it comes to policies,
training and attitudes around workplace violence and harassment.
Canada's most notable case in this area involved Jian Ghomeshi, the
once popular CBC radio host. Ghomeshi's reputation was torn asunder
in 2014 aer allegations that he bullied and sexually harassed at least
eight women at the CBC and outside the workplace. Despite his 2016
acquittal on five charges, Ghomeshi's firing and highly publicized court-
room trial, corporate lawyers say, was a kind of alarm bell in the Cana-
dian business world for employers to make their workplaces safer.
Still, misogynist corporate cultures do continue to fester in Canada,
and that raises a host of questions for in-house counsel and external law-
yers. What should they do to ensure that the requisite shi in attitude
occurs at the top echelons? How can they ensure that their founders,
C-suite executives and directors lead positive change, while refraining
from behaviour that results in allegations of sexual or other harassment?
