Employers with more than five employees will soon be required to prepare  workplace violence  and harassment policies. 

Bill 168, which amends Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act in respect to workplace violence and harassment, received third and final reading in the Ontario legislature on December 9. 

This legislation will require all employers with more than five employees to develop:

• Violence and harassment policies and programs
• Employee reporting procedure (incidents, threats and complaints)
• Incident investigation procedure
• Emergency response procedure (violence only)
• Process to deal with complaints, incidents and threats

Employers will  need to conduct risk assessment of workplace violence, and report the results of the assessment to its health and safety committee, or a health and safety representative.  For workplaces that do not have a health and safety committee, employers will be required to report the results of the assessment directly to the workers.  Employers will also be required to respond when made aware of domestic violence that may expose a worker to physical injury in the workplace.

The OCC responded to the legislation, and had identified several concerns relating to the proposed obligations to employers.  A few of the key concerns and recommendations raised in the submission are:

• The legislation will create unrealistic expectations and liabilities toward employers and the business community.
• With the exception of business with less than five employees, employers regardless of size or industry will be bound by the same requirements to institute workplace violence and harassment policies and programs.
• Several definitions and timelines in the legislation are very broad and unclear.
• Bearing in mind that there are already laws in place to prevent workplace violence, the OCC believes government should exempt small business as well as those businesses that do not have a history of complaints of violence in the workplace.

With few changes made to the final legislation, the government has promised to provide business with tools to help them comply with the new law.

The OCC will continue to lobby and work with government to ensure businesses are provided with the tools and information they require.  The OCC will continue to update its membership on this issue.     

For further information please contact Mary Hogarth, Senior Policy Analyst at 416-482-5222 (233) or maryhogarth@occ.on.ca