What can the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario award if I win?
Two things, mainly: money for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect — an amount meant to recognise the harm, not to punish — plus any lost wages or costs you can prove. The Tribunal can also order non-monetary remedies: training, policy changes, a letter, a reinstatement. It cannot award legal costs, and it cannot fine anyone. Awards are set by comparing your case to published decisions with similar facts.
The range, from the Tribunal's own comparison
In a recent sexual-harassment decision the Tribunal did something unusually useful: it reviewed its own decade of substantiated sexual-harassment-with-assault cases to set the range. Those decisions, from 2018 to 2024, ran from $42,500 to $200,000.
The applicant in that case was awarded $75,000. The Tribunal placed the conduct at the less serious end — one incident, no prior or subsequent verbal conduct — while treating the fact that it happened before the parties had even been introduced as aggravating. Notably, it also treated inflation as a factor in comparing past awards to present ones, which pushes the effective range upward over time.
The distribution behind the range
The range above comes from one decision's own comparison of sexual-harassment cases. For the whole picture, the most complete study of Tribunal general damages collected every award over sixteen years — Ranalli and Ryder at Osgoode Hall Law School, covering all 464 awards from 2000 to 2015.
One square = one percent of all 464 awards. Count them if you like — the four
bands do not overlap and add to one hundred. Median $10,000 · mean $11,216 · full range $0 to $150,000.
Ranalli & Ryder, Osgoode Hall Law School — every award the Tribunal issued between 2000 and 2015.
Other frameworks the Tribunal uses
The range at the top of this page comes from one decision's survey of sexual-harassment cases. Other kinds of claim are assessed against different comparators, and the Tribunal reasons by analogy to published decisions with similar facts rather than from a tariff.
| Type of claim | What drives the figure | Anchors in the published record |
|---|---|---|
| Police services claims | Seriousness of the interaction, whether force or search was involved, effect on the person, and whether a young person was involved | $5,000 (Abbott) · $10,000 (Phipps, Briggs) · $13,000 (Dungus) · $20,000 (Nassiah) · $35,000 (JKB, a six-year-old) · $40,000 (Maynard) |
| Employment — termination | Loss of livelihood, vulnerability, how the dismissal was carried out, and whether accommodation was ever attempted | $30,000 (Chittle) · $37,000 (Islam) · $40,000 in a court award under s. 46.1 (Strudwick) |
| Disability accommodation | Whether the organisation inquired at all, how long it went on, and the impact of exclusion | ADGA v Lane — the Divisional Court confirmed no ceiling, and that awards must not become a licence fee to discriminate |
| Citizenship & hiring rules | Usually dominated by lost income rather than dignity | Haseeb — $120,360.70 total including lost income, injury to dignity and interest |
| Sexual harassment with assault | Number of incidents, power imbalance, age, and impact | $42,500–$55,000 single incident · $75,000 with aggravating factors · up to $200,000 for repeated or egregious conduct |
Who gets paid what
The same study broke the awards down by who represented the applicant. This is the finding with the most direct bearing on the rest of this site.
Representation does not only change whether a case survives to a decision. Among cases that win, it roughly doubles what the win is worth. The authors give the honest counter-reading themselves: representatives select for more serious cases, so part of that gap is the cases and not the advocacy. Both are probably true.
Selected awards, tribunal and court
Not a complete list — verified anchors, including the comparators the Tribunal cites to itself. Court awards are shaded. Sort any column; switch on inflation for approximate 2026 values.
| Year | Case | Ground | Award | Note |
|---|
Inflation adjustment is approximate, from Canadian all-items CPI with 2026 as base. The Tribunal has never published an indexation method — use these to argue, not to quote.
The risk that runs the other way
The Tribunal does not order costs against a losing party. That is deliberate, and it is what keeps the door open to people who could never risk a court. The Divisional Court is different — and its costs orders have repeatedly exceeded the award being fought over.
| Case | Award | Costs ordered against the applicant |
|---|---|---|
| Saadi v Audmax | $15,000, overturned on review | $10,000 |
| Pieters | $2,000 each to two applicants; overturned, later restored by the Court of Appeal | $20,000 |
| Nemati v Ontario College of Teachers | $10,000, upheld — she had sought review arguing it was too low | $12,000 |
Common questions
Do I get my legal fees back?
No. The HRTO cannot award legal costs to either side — which cuts both ways: you also cannot be ordered to pay the respondent's costs if you lose, unlike in civil court.
Can the Tribunal order someone fired or disciplined?
No. It can order the organisation to do things — training, policy change, reinstatement, a reference letter — but discipline of an individual is the employer's or the oversight body's decision, not the Tribunal's.
Is the money taxable?
Injury-to-dignity awards are generally not treated as employment income; lost-wage components generally are. This is a question for an accountant or lawyer about your own award.
Why are police awards so much smaller than employment awards?
Different facts and different social areas, mostly — but the honest answer from our record is that too few police matters reach a remedy for a range to exist at all.
What if the respondent just doesn't pay?
An HRTO order can be filed with the Superior Court and enforced like a court judgment.