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Harassment and violence

Harassment

As a worker, you are entitled to protection from bullying and harassment in the workplace. Employers must have harassment policies and procedures that meet Part 1 – Definition and General Matters of The Workplace Safety and Health Regulation (WSH Regulation) requirements. Here, harassment is defined as objectionable conduct that risks a worker’s health or severe conduct that adversely affects a worker’s psychological or physical well-being.

Harassment can include written or verbal comments, physical acts, gestures, displays or any combination thereof.

Under the WSH Regulation, the following actions must be taken to meet legal requirements and protect workers from harassment:

  1. Develop and implement a written policy to prevent harassment in the workplace.
  2. Ensure that the workers comply with the harassment prevention policy.
  3. The harassment policy must be developed in consultation with the safety and health committee at the workplace, the safety and health representative at the workplace, or, if there is no committee or representative at the workplace, the workers at the workplace.

The minimum requirements by law that an employer must adhere to are as follows:

  1. Every worker is entitled to work free of harassment.
  2. The employer must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that no worker is subjected to harassment in the workplace.
  3. The employer will take corrective action respecting any person under the employer’s direction who subjects a worker to harassment.

The employer will not disclose the name of a complainant or an alleged harasser or the circumstances related to the complaint to any person except where disclosure is necessary to investigate the complaint, take corrective action with respect to the complaint or is required by law.

The harassment prevention policy must also provide information on the following:

  • How to make a harassment complaint.
  • How a harassment complaint will be investigated.
  • How the complaint and alleged harasser will be informed of the investigation results.

Creating a harassment prevention policy

The harassment prevention policy must include the following statements: 

  • Every worker is entitled to work free of harassment. 
  • The employer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practical, that no worker is subjected to harassment in the workplace. 
  • The employer will take corrective action respecting any person under the employer’s direction who subjects a worker to harassment. 
  • The employer will not disclose the name of a complainant or an alleged harasser of the circumstances related to the complaint to any person except where the disclosure is necessary to investigate the complaint or take corrective action with respect to the complaint or required by law. 
  • A worker has a right to file a complaint with the Manitoban Human Rights Commission. 
  • The employer’s harassment prevention policy is not intended to discourage or prevent the complainant from exercising any other legal rights pursuant to any other law. 

The policy must also provide information on: 

  • How to make a harassment complaint. 
  • How harassment complaints will be investigated. 
  • How the complainant and alleged harasser will be informed of the results of the investigation. 

You can download a sample Harassment prevention policy here.

Violence

Violence is the attempted or actual exercise of physical force against a person or any threatening behaviour that gives a person reason to believe that physical force will be used against them. The negative impact of workplace violence is significant. In order to prevent workplace violence, employers need to assess the workplace for areas, people or tasks that may be associated with an increased risk of violence.

Violence in the Workplace, Part 11 of the WSH Regulation defines how an employer must assess the risk of violence in the workplace, what to include in a prevention policy and how to investigate a violent incident.

The minimum requirements by law that an employer must follow are:

  1. Employers must assess the risk of violence in the workplace.
  2. Employers must develop and carry out a violence prevention policy.
  3. Employers must provide the violence prevention policy and information on the nature and extent of the risk of violence to the workers in the workplace.
  4. Employers are obligated to investigate violent incidents and carry out any control measures that were identified as a result of the incident investigation.
  5. Employers must provide an annual report of violent incidents to the workplace committee, the representative, and, when there is no committee or representative, the workers.

Legislation

The Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSH Act) and associated regulations are in place to protect the safety and health of workers in Manitoba. Below is a link to the regulation part associated with this safety topic.

Part 10 Harassment Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation

Part 11 Violence in the Workplace Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation

Related links

Health and safety topic list