Though many people have excellent workplace conditions, others face harassment on a day-to-day basis. Not only is this a tragedy, but many employees do not know that a Toronto harassment law expert could remedy their situations with some basic legal strategies. Below, we explain nine workplace conditions that might constitute hiring a Toronto harassment lawyer.
Discrimination
Though there are many ways in which discrimination takes place, the most common are based on race, gender, religion, disabilities, sexual orientation, and age. What makes these situations so complicated is that a coworker can often pretend their issue with you is based on merit when it isn’t. If you can, try to find proof of your discrimination rather than having it be your word against your tormentor.
Personal Vendetta
Sometimes, harassment is not a product of discrimination but a personal vendetta. This often comes about when you make a superior feel bad in some way, such as correcting an error they made. They come after you and try to make your life harder.
Physical Harassment
There are three ways in which a person can physically harass you. First, they might hurt you through a violent act like shoving, hitting, or kicking. These are the most apparent examples. The second way is through violent threats such as hinting at physical harm or shaking a fist at you. Lastly, somebody might destroy objects, like an office telephone, in your presence to intimidate you.
Overuse of Power
With power comes responsibility. Unfortunately, some superiors abuse their position and harass people below them. Some typical examples are making demands that are too difficult to meet, ordering employees to complete demeaning tasks outside their job description, or telling workers what to do with their personal lives.
Psychological Abuse
Working a job is challenging enough on its own. Unfortunately, people sometimes purposely give psychological abuse to others as well. That can mean social isolation, spreading rumors, talking down, and arguing against ideas. Once someone establishes a regular pattern of carrying out those behaviors, they are guilty of harassment.
Cyber Bullying
Sometimes, harassment takes place entirely online. The behaviors involved are a lot like other forms of bullying, but they happen over email, social media, and company collaboration networks. If somebody is gossiping about you, sharing your personal life, or directly abusing you online, you could have a harassment case.
Retaliation
This form of harassment is characterized by somebody abusing you because you reported them for bad behavior in the past. The most common example is when an employee notifies HR of another person’s harassment. Once that abuser hears about it, they double down and start to bully even more.
Sexual Harassment
One of the most well-known forms of abuse, especially in the modern age, is sexual harassment. Some typical examples are sharing photos of you, making comments, offensive jokes, pointed questions, touching gestures, quid pro quo arrangements, and invading personal space. This type of harassment is perhaps the most common form, and many people find justice through hiring a lawyer.
Third-Party Issues
Our last form of harassment is somewhat uncommon but still affects many workers. It is a third-party issue, which is defined as somebody outside of the business harassing you. One typical example is in companies that have employees managing different clients. If a big spender is also abusive, your superiors may ask you to deal with this third-party harasser rather than fixing the situation.
As you can see, there are a variety of abuse types that can affect you at work. They all have in common that they are unjust and should be dealt with immediately. If you cannot work your issues out inside your company, your next option should be talking to a Toronto harassment law expert about your options.
