What is the SHARP Workplaces program?
SHARP Workplaces is a legal clinic that provides free legal advice, education and information to anyone in BC who is experiencing (or has experienced) sexual harassment at work.
SHARP Workplaces legal clinic services are free and confidential. There are no income eligibility or status restrictions. You can qualify for service if you might have experienced sexual harassment at work in British Columbia.
Yes. The program is available province-wide and is easy to access by:
- Calling 604-673-3143 or toll-free at 1-888-685-6222, or
- Emailing SHARPWorkplaces@clasbc.net
Also, if you currently live outside of British Columbia, but had a workplace sexual harassment experience in BC, SHARP Workplaces can still help you.
Our office is opened Monday – Friday from 9:00AM to 4:30PM. We are closed on statutory holidays.
You’re welcome to have a support person with you during the intake call. The support person can be a friend, a family member, or a support worker. It is important to us that you feel safe and comfortable during the call. If English is not your first language and you would like an interpreter, we can arrange one for the call for free. Just let us know when we’re scheduling the intake call.
Our lawyers can give you 5 hours of legal advice. Each client’s case is unique, but your lawyer can:
- Tell you if what happened to you was workplace sexual harassment
- Explain your legal options
- Discuss non-legal options
- Help you prepare a complaint (for example, to your employer or the BC Human Rights Tribunal)
- Review letters and documents you have written
- Draft documents for you (settlement offers, responses to your employer or human resources department, etc.)
- Review and explain legal documents
- Coach you through negotiations, mediation, or other legal processes
- Provide you with legal research that will help you with your case.
Your lawyer won’t be able to do everything on this list within the 5 hours of service. Together with your lawyer, you can decide what you can do yourself and what would be helpful to have your lawyer assist with
As our service is limited to legal advice, SHARP Workplaces lawyers are unable to represent you. This means that your lawyer cannot go to court, hearings, or mediations with you.
Yes. You can speak to a lawyer and they can tell you if what happened was sexual harassment. They can also discuss your legal and non-legal options.
Find out more in the video below.
Will you report what I say to my employer or other agencies?
No. Our services are confidential. We would never contact anybody without your consent. The only exceptions would be:
· If required by law or court
· If required by the Law Society which regulates lawyers
· If there is immediate risk of serious harm or death to someone
Yes, workplace sexual harassment is against the law. Your legal options and remedies are different depending on when the harassment occurred, for how long, what happened, and how the sexual harassment affected you. Our lawyers can go over all of the different legal options with you.
No. Workplace sexual harassment can be on the basis of:
- Sex – the physical traits you are born with or the sex you are assigned at birth.
- Sexual orientation or attraction – who you are drawn (or not drawn) to, in sexual, romantic or other ways.
- Gender identity – how you think of yourself (doesn’t have to be, and often isn’t, visible).
- Gender expression – how people publicly present their gender, including how they look, act and behave.
Microaggressions are everyday slights, snubs, comments, or insults that express negative messages or stereotypes about a minority group, such as gender, race, sexual orientation. Microaggressions can be verbal or non-verbal, and intentional or unintentional.
Repeated microaggressions can build to create a hostile work environment and may be workplace sexual harassment. Because microaggressions are “hidden messages,” they can be hard to identify, and it can be difficult to explain how they impact you. Each microaggression may seem minor to the person doing it, but repeated microaggressions can form a pattern of harassment.
Because workplace sexual harassment doesn’t require intent, saying things like “I didn’t mean it that way,” “it was just a joke,” or “I meant it as a compliment” are not a defence. It can still be a microaggression and workplace sexual harassment even if the person didn’t mean to cause harm.
Examples of gendered microaggressions could include:
- repeatedly using incorrect gender pronouns;
- assuming a woman can’t do or isn’t qualified for traditionally-male dominated work;
- asking a woman when she’s going to have kids;
- telling someone they look “metrosexual;”
- telling someone they need to “man up;”
- telling a woman she looks “so young” or assuming she is in a lower-ranking position;
- making assumptions about someone’s sexual orientation. For instance, asking a woman if she has a boyfriend before knowing her sexual orientation;
- telling someone they would be more attractive if they were a man/woman;
- addressing women as “sweetheart” or using other unprofessional nicknames.
Sexual Assault is:
- Intentional sexual touching of any kind without your consent, or
- Attempts or threats of unwanted sexual touching or contact.
“Consent” is when a person voluntarily agrees to sexual activity. Consent has to be ongoing, and you can stop consenting at any time if you change your mind.
Sexual assault can include touching someone with objects.
What is NOT consent?
- It is not consent if you say “yes” under threat that you might lose your job or that there will be other consequences if you don’t say yes.
- It is not consent if you are too intoxicated to decide if you want to do something or if you are unconscious.
- If you are not within the age of consent.
- Silence is not consent.
- Consent to participate in some touching is not consent for other types of touching. For example, if you consent to a hug, that does not mean you also consent to groping, kissing, stroking, or other types of touching.
If you have been sexually assaulted at work and need immediate assistance, please contact BC211.
If you were sexually assaulted at work in BC, SHARP Workplaces can help.
If you have been sexually assaulted at work and need immediate assistance, please contact BC211. If you’re not sure if you want to report this to the police, a SHARP Workplaces lawyer can explain what happens when you report a sexual assault and what your other options are if you don’t want to report the incident. We can also refer you to other resources that can provide you with support. The decision of whether to report is always yours.
Sexual assault is:
- Intentional sexual touching of any kind (e.g., kissing, touching, grabbing, fondling), or attempts or threats of unwanted sexual touching, without your consent.
- Consent must be affirmative and voluntary. You must actively give consent to the activity. This means that if you did not verbally object that does not mean that you consented.
Sexual assault is a form of workplace sexual harassment, if it takes place in connection with work.
Note that while sexual harassment is not necessarily intentional, sexual assault is. It is an intentional act or threat made by the assaulter.