Ontario's hospitality industry takes aim at sexual harassment

Businesses in the bar, restaurant and hospitality sectors now have "no excuse" when it comes to tackling sexual harassment and violence in their workplaces, industry representatives from Ontario said Thursday as they launched a new training course.

The effort is led by the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association (ORHMA), in conjunction with tourism industry associations and the provincial government, which provided funding to develop the voluntary training.

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"I really think it's going to change attitudes," Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn said at a launch event at a downtown Toronto hotel. "It's going to make workplaces safer, more responsive to complaints about sexual violence and harassment."

The online course, It's Your Shift, is free through the dedicated website itsyourshift.ca. It's made up of five modules, which take 30 to 45 minutes each to complete, and are for both managers and front-line workers. They use case studies to teach how to recognize inappropriate behaviour, when and how to intervene, and how to reduce the likelihood of it happening.

Employers are reminded of their obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code and under a provincial law passed last year aimed at reducing sexual violence and harassment. They are also taught what they can do to help change attitudes and create safe environments for their employees and their customers.

"The buck stops here. There is no excuse, no excuse for any company not to be able to now provide the training to their employees," said William Pallett, chair of the board of Tourism HR Canada, at a news conference in Toronto. "Nothing could be easier."

'She was in tears'

Matt McKibbon, a manager at a downtown Toronto sports bar called The Ballroom, said the course sounds like a valuable initiative and that he'll consider incorporating it into staff training. 

"I think it would be a great resource for people new to the industry, even veterans as a refresher," he said. Most of the sexual harassment he said he's witnessed during his 15 years in the industry has been customers harassing servers.

"It's mostly drunken customers on a Friday or Saturday night is usually the issue, getting a little too hands on," said McKibbon. He once had a female server quit after a customer grabbed part of her body.

"She was in tears," he said.

McKibbon said male customers sometimes have the mindset that women in the industry should tolerate their behaviour because they believe it comes with the territory. 

"Which is brutal, obviously," said McKibbon.

He added that security guards in the bar are trained to watch for customer-to-customer harassment, especially on the dance floor, and that they won't hesitate to eject patrons who act inappropriately.

From behind the bar at The Ballroom, Alisha May said she doesn't need a course to help her recognize sexual harassment, she already knows what it is because she experiences it constantly.

"At the end of the day, learning about sexual harassment and how to identify it and how to stop it should be for people who are harassers," said May, who has worked in the industry for more than a decade.

Constant harassment on the job

Customers are routinely trying to get her phone number or making comments about her appearance, she said. The other week she overheard two patrons talking crudely about taking her home at the end of the night and what they wanted to do to her sexually.

"I was livid," said May. She told the security team at the bar and they promptly kicked the men out. 

She's worked in other places, however, where her supervisors did not offer the same support. 

"Just ignore him," she was told by a manager at a previous workplace when she reported how a customer was saying things that were making her uncomfortable. "They did not have my back."

May said it's taken her years to become confident enough to speak up and that it's crucial for bosses to encourage their employees to express their concerns.

Dan Morrow, head of food and beverage services for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, said he hopes the It's Your Shift program will help open lines of communication between employers and employees.

"We as management want them to speak up and they should speak up and it provides them with actions that they can take to do that," he said at the news conference. His company owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Raptors, the Toronto FC soccer team — as well as the venues where the teams play, which include bars and restaurants.

He and the others who worked on creating the course said at the news conference that the roll out is timely given the recent focus on sexual harassment in the news, but also because of the busy holiday season, when bars, restaurants and hotels are packed.

"More than 450,000 people work in Ontario's hospitality sector and we know they will be working harder than ever over the holidays," Ontario Status of Women Minister Indira Naidoo-Harris said at the launch event. "But the harsh reality is many witness sexual violence or harassment on their properties on a regular basis."

It could be an employer harassing an employee, a fellow employee acting inappropriately, or a customer harassing another customer, said Naidoo-Harris.

"No matter who the perpetrator is, it's still sexual harassment and violence, it's breaking the law and it's unacceptable," she said.