Compliance Alert – HR Insider – August 2020
Fear of victims to come forward and report complaints remains a major stumbling block in the effort to combat workplace violence and harassment. Last year the federal government passed Bill C-65 to address this problem by, among other things, requiring employers not simply to respond to violence and harassment complaints but to implement measures to ensure that investigations and resolutions are fair, objective, impartial and user-friendly.
On June 24, the federal government published those long-awaited regulations. And while they apply only to federally regulated employers covered by the COHS regulations, they’re bound to have significant influence in other jurisdictions.
Those New Federal Workplace Violence and Harassment measures are:
- Creation of a violence and harassment policy jointly with workers or the JFSC or health and safety representative,
- Conducting a joint violence and harassment assessment every 3 years;
- Jointly creating and implementing emergency procedures;
- Jointly developing violence and harassment training;
- Providing support to victims;
- Implementing an elaborate new process to investigate and resolve complaints in a fair, impartial and transparent way;
- Keeping extensive workplace violence and harassment records; and
- Submitting an annual workplace violence and harassment report to the MOL.
