Publication
Government Investigations in Singapore 2025
We have contributed the Singapore chapter of Getting the Deal Through, Government Investigations 2025.
Canada | Publication | August 2019
In a recent decision, the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal sounded the alarm over sexual harassment in the workplace. Its message could not be clearer: any conduct that is detrimental to a person’s development and affects their “sense of safety, respect and self-esteem” must be eradicated from the workplace. This matter gave the Tribunal an opportunity to update and toughen its position on an issue that is now facing mounting social condemnation.
In this case, the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (human rights and youth rights commission) sued an employer for having violated his (former) employee’s right to dignity and to working conditions that are free of sexual harassment and discrimination. It was claiming $26,000 in moral damages, and $8,000 in punitive damages. In response to the Commission’s allegations, the Tribunal successively examined sections 10, 10.1, 16 and 4 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
With respect to the action’s “discriminatory” component, the Tribunal emphasized just how fundamental work is to a person’s identity and psychological and physical well-being. The employer’s advances, demands and sexually suggestive remarks were neither desired nor solicited by his employee, and had the effect of compromising her right to the safeguard of her dignity and to non-discriminatory working conditions. The Tribunal therefore ruled that sections 10, 16 and 4 of the Charter had been violated.
With respect to the action’s “sexual harassment” component, the Tribunal described it as being multifaceted, ranging from physical assaults and their aftermath, to the promise of a promotion in exchange for sexual favours. Here, the employer’s recurrent inappropriate comments and physical contact constituted sexual harassment of his employee in the workplace. The Tribunal therefore ruled that section 10.1 of the Charter had been violated.
With respect to the applicable sanction, the Tribunal referred specifically to Ontario case law on the subject. Here, it awarded $20,000 in moral damages, as the employee felt humiliated, unworthy of respect and unsafe at work, a place where “[translation] we spend nearly half of our lives”. As for punitive damages, the Tribunal believed that amounts awarded in the past under similar circumstances did not have the desired dissuasive effect. The proof? Although these types of situations have been reported for quite some time now, sexual harassment remains a burning issue. The Tribunal therefore awarded $6,000 in punitive damages.
Given the comments of the Tribunal in this decision, which mirror society's current take on anti-sexual harassment, it would be prudent for employers to actively prevent and put a stop to harassing behaviour, as required by the Act respecting labour standards in Quebec.
Publication
We have contributed the Singapore chapter of Getting the Deal Through, Government Investigations 2025.
Publication
The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
Publication
The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Regulation, commonly referred to as the AI Act, is expected to come into force during the summer of 2024 (the AI Act). The AI Act will be the first comprehensive legal framework for the use and development of artificial intelligence (AI), and is intended to ensure that AI systems developed and used in the EU are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly.
Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest legal news, information and events . . .
© Norton Rose Fulbright LLP 2023