Keeping the sexual harassment dispute case confidential

Applying to the Commission starts a legal process.

Information that you give to the Commission is usually a matter of public record and may become accessible to other people, including those who are not involved in the case.

Member conferences and determinative conferences are almost always held in private. Commission hearings are usually held in public because of the public interest in transparency and open justice. The Commission usually publishes the date and time of a hearing on its website, as well as the name or initials of the person making the application.  

Commission decisions (following a determinative conference or a hearing) are usually published on the Commission’s website.

Sexual harassment cases in the Commission often involve sensitive personal information. If you want to send information to the Commission that you want to keep confidential, you can apply for a confidentiality order.

The Commission can make confidentiality orders if it is satisfied that it is desirable to do so because of the confidential nature of the evidence or for any other reason. For example, a Commission Member could decide:

• that all or part of a hearing must be private, and that only some people can attend 
• who can and who must go to a hearing  
• not to publish sensitive personal information on the Commission's website 
• not to publish some of the evidence or documents from a hearing
• not to share all of the evidence or documents in a case with all of the people at a hearing 
• not to publish confidential information in a decision or another document.