Legal Updates

WSPS.CA/LEGISLATION LEGISLATION BRIEFING Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations May 1 st , 2019 Bill C‐65 the act to amend the Canada Labour Code (CLC) the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1. received Royal Assent last October and is anticipated come into force in 2020. The Act will amend the Canada Labour Code to create a more robust approach to addressing harassment and sexual violence in the workplace and expand the obligations of federal employers in relation to this. It would also expand the coverage to parliamentary workplaces, including staff of Parliament Hill. The Act includes authority to make regulations to prevent and respond to harassment and violence in the workplace and to support those affected. Revised proposed regulations are now in the Canada Gazette, Part I, and will be available for public comment for the next 30 days. The Government of Canada released its findings from the online consultation in its report, Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations – What We Heard on April 26th 2019. To ensure the regulations respond to the needs of the workplaces where they will apply, the Government consulted more than a thousand Canadians, stakeholders, employers, employee representatives, subject matter experts and advocacy groups, among others, for their feedback on the initial proposed regulations. The Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations apply to all federal workplaces covered under Part II of the Canada Labour Code, including the federally regulated private sector, the federal public service and parliamentary workplaces. The regulations replace Part XX of the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, as well as portions of two other regulations that include violence prevention provisions. What are the Regulations? The proposed Regulations streamline and consolidate harassment and violence provisions within one separate set of regulations. They highlight the importance of harassment and violence prevention and make it easier for employers and employees to identify their rights and duties. The proposed Regulations include strengthening requirements of Bill C‐65 with respect to preventing and responding to occurrences of harassment and violence, and supporting those affected. The following definitions apply in these proposed regulations: 1. Designated recipient means a person who is designated by the employer under section 14. 2. Occurrence means an occurrence of harassment and violence in the work place. 3. Principal party means an employee or employer who is the object of an occurrence. 4. Responding party means the person who, in a notification given under subsection 15(1), is identified as having been responsible for the occurrence. 5. Third party means a person who witnessed an occurrence or is informed of an occurrence by the principal party or responding party.

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