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Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Heeding New Harassment Rules

A closer look at the details of Canada's new Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations

The federal government’s new Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations, which came into effect January 1, 2021, compel federally regulated organizations to create stronger harassment policies. It would be wise for all Canadian employers to note the changes because they will likely raise the bar for all workplaces.

The amendments to the Canada Labour Code now define harassment and violence as “any action, conduct, or comment, including of a sexual nature, that can reasonably be expected to cause offence, humiliation, or other physical or psychological injury or illness to an employee.” This means employers have a legal obligation to protect workers from psychological—not just physical—harm. The regulations include new requirements for

- workplace harassment and violence prevention policies and training,
- the investigation of complaints,
- employer obligations for the resolution of work-place incidents,
- who can investigate complaints and how an investigator is chosen, and
employer obligations to conduct a workplace risk assessment and include findings in the workplace harassment and violence prevention program.

These new federal rules could lead to similar measures at the provincial level. And it’s a change that has been overdue. A Statistics Canada study found that, in 2016, nearly 20 percent of Canadian women and 13 percent of men had experienced some form of workplace harassment in the previous year. Left un-checked, these situations can cause the workplace culture to deteriorate, decrease productivity, and worse.

The legal consequences can be significant:

- In 2017, an Ontario court ordered an employer in the industrial sector to pay an employee damages totalling $85,000 after she was fired following a complaint she filed about persistent sexual harassment.
- The Canada Revenue Agency was ordered to pay more than $60,000 in damages to a harassed employee for what a labour board described as “the reckless manner in which it handled the initial investigation of her complaint.”

The good news for employees is that the new regulations, coupled with recent court rulings, mean that all employers must take a harder line and a more proactive approach when harassment complaints are made.

Sources: Canadian HR Reporter, canadaemploymenthumanrightslaw.com