Workplace Grievances and Sexual Harassment in Jamaica: Your Rights and How to Raise a Complaint

Last verified: 23 July 2026. Based on the Sexual Harassment (Protection and Prevention) Act, 2021, Jamaica Information Service guidance and published legal commentary. General information, not legal advice.

Most people who experience a serious workplace problem do not raise it formally. They put up with it, or they leave. Knowing what the process actually is makes the first option less necessary.

The Sexual Harassment Act

The Sexual Harassment (Protection and Prevention) Act, 2021 came into effect on 3 July 2023. It is significant legislation and many workers do not know it exists.

It covers sexual harassment in employment, in institutions — including schools, correctional facilities, places of safety, nursing homes and medical facilities — and in landlord-and-tenant relationships.

What employers must do

• Have a sexual harassment policy. This applies to all employers regardless of size — an earlier exemption for businesses with fewer than 20 workers was removed before the Act passed.
• Maintain a register of every claim lodged, recording the parties, date, time, particulars and any action taken. Information must be kept for eight years.
• Begin investigating a complaint within 14 days and complete it without delay.
• Protect confidentiality. Intentionally or recklessly disclosing register information can attract a fine of up to $500,000 or imprisonment.

The policy must set out the internal complaint mechanism and inform workers of their right to seek redress through the Tribunal.

What is prohibited

Beyond the conduct itself, the Act addresses situations where working conditions are made dependent on accepting or tolerating sexual advances, and prohibits prospective employers suggesting that getting a job depends on engaging in or tolerating sexual conduct.

There is also an offence of adverse action — meaning retaliation against someone for complaining is itself unlawful.

The Tribunal

The Act establishes a dedicated Tribunal to hear and determine complaints of sexual harassment at workplaces and institutions. It can also adjudicate complaints that an employer failed to act on a claim — which matters if your organisation ignores you.

You have a right to representation at a hearing, and the Tribunal can prohibit publication of evidence. Making a knowingly false complaint is itself an offence.

General workplace grievances

For problems that are not sexual harassment — unfair treatment, bullying, unsafe conditions, pay disputes, unreasonable workload — the route is different.

1. Check your staff handbook for a grievance procedure and follow it. Skipping steps weakens your position later.
2. Raise it in writing, factually, without hostility. State what happened, when, who was present, and what outcome you are seeking.
3. Keep copies of everything, including your own contemporaneous notes.
4. Involve your union representative immediately if you are represented.
5. Escalate internally if the first response is inadequate.
6. Take it to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security if internal processes fail. The Ministry’s Industrial Relations arm assesses disputes and typically schedules a conciliation meeting.

Disputes unresolved at conciliation may be referred by the Minister to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal.

A point worth knowing about disciplinary process

Industrial Disputes Tribunal decisions have held that an employer investigating allegations should not also be the one carrying out discipline — otherwise it acts as “judge, jury and executioner.” The process should be managed by people who are not part of the body bringing the accusation.

If you are the subject of a disciplinary process and the same person investigated, decided and sanctioned, that is worth raising.

Practical advice

• Write things down as they happen, with dates. Contemporaneous notes carry real weight; reconstructed memories do not.
• Use written channels where you can, so there is a record.
• Do not post about it publicly. It rarely helps and often damages your position.
• Get advice early rather than after you have already responded to something.
• Ask for your employer’s policy — they are required to have one for sexual harassment.

Where to get help

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security handles employment disputes and can explain the process at no cost.

The Bureau of Gender Affairs offers sensitisation sessions and guidance on the anti-sexual harassment policy framework.

The Victim Services Unit at the Ministry of Justice provides free counselling for victims of crime, including sexual harassment.

If harassment occurs outside your workplace, the police can advise on legal steps including contacting the Tribunal.

Your trade union, if you have one, should be involved from the start. For anything serious, an attorney experienced in employment law is worth the consultation.

This article is general information and not legal advice. Every situation depends on its own facts — seek advice from a qualified attorney, your union, or the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.