LEAF at Work contains information on the application of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to the many types of discrimination women experience in the workplace. Although many issues pertaining to sexism at work are formally addressed in the law this fact does not correspond to the reality of many women's lives. Pay inequality, sexual harassment, discrimination in government benefits and hiring are still all too common, leading to devastating impacts including eventual loss of income and women's vulnerability to poverty.

Sexual Harassment

Janzen v Platy (1989), a case of sexual harassment of restaurant employees which ruled that sexual harassment was sex discrimination. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that when sexual harassment occurs in the workplace, it is an abuse of both economic and sexual power. Employers have a legal obligation to provide a workplace free from harassment. Click here for more info

Pay Equity

In NAPE v Newfoundland (2004), justice was denied to Newfoundland public employees when the courts decided that the government had discriminated against women workers by paying them unequal wages to their male equivalents, but that this discrimination was justified because of a financial deficit. Click here for more info

Employment Standards

In BCGSEU v. PSERC/Meiorin (1999), a long time female firefighter was systematically excluded from her job when discriminatory workplace standards were implemented that were found not to be required to perform the job. Workplace rules must now be scrutinized to ensure that they measure professional functioning and do not exclude women or other groups. Click here for more info

Equal Access to Employment Insurance

Lesiuk v. Canada (2003) addresses employment benefits available under the federal Employment Insurance Act that effectively prevent part time workers from receiving employment insurance. Women are disproportionately impacted by the law because part time workers are predominantly female. As an intervener in the case LEAF argued that the EI criteria do not take into account the working situation, needs and circumstances of female workers, and that they are therefore inherently gendered. Click here for more info

LEAF at Work
Download Pay Equity Fact Sheet

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