Companies gird for harasssment rules

By Don Fraser, The Standard

For Fred Reynolds, it’s a given that employees must be sheltered from workplace violence and harassment.

So complying with new rules that mandate it under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act should be a cinch.

“For us, it won’t be a problem,” said Reynolds, co-owner of McNamara and Reynolds Ltd., a 20-employee flooring, blinds and paint store in St. Catharines.

“You’d think if a company had been around a long time, you’d operate that way, anyway,” he said.

Reynolds supports the legislation’s intent. But he also fears more red tape and regulations will be saddled onto businesses.

“I guess common sense isn’t a part of the world anymore.”

The act now requires employers with six or more workers or contractors to make policies, assess risks and develop procedures against violence and harassment.

Employees also need to be instructed in these areas and incident forms must be available.

Ted Mouradian, who runs The Mouradian Group Inc. consulting firm in St. Catharines, said smaller outfits might find compliance time consuming.

“This affects all the mom-and-pop operations. It affects Joe, with his six-employee corner store,” he said.

“And we know this could also be really costly for (them).”

To that end, his firm has developed a package to help businesses implement the new rules by a June 15 deadline.

Mouradian added the act, amended last December, defines harassment broadly. It includes engaging in vexatious conduct against a worker, when it should be known to be unwelcome.

Violence is described as physical force used against a worker. It includes violence from customers and anyone who enters a workplace.

A statement or behaviour that a worker could reasonably interpret as a threat of force is included.

“If someone says ‘I hate that guy, I should go burn his house down,’ they’re in contravention of the act,” Mouradian said.

The act also folds in domestic violence.

Employers above the cutoff size have must protect workers against the possibility of it happening in the workplace.

An example would be a woman who might encounter her abusive partner at work.

Meanwhile, the ministry will soon post information about new rules on its website www.ontario.ca/labour.

In a few days, it will have a fact sheet and links to the legislation, said Bruce Skeaff, the provincial labour ministry spokesman.

Guidelines for compliance will follow next month.

A guide to policies, programs and risk assessment will be posted in April, with a final brochure released in June.

Skeaff said potential penalties are the same as the rest of the legislation.

They range progressively from orders for compliance to taking an employer to court.

After that, there could be fines of up to $500,000 per company and up to $50,000 for an individual.

Any new regulation can challenge businesses — especially smaller ones that struggle to manage them, said Walter Sendzik, general manager of the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce.

“There are more expenses, and it’s another regulation that’s put on their plate,” Sendzik said, adding there should be zero tolerance anyway for workplace violence and harassment.

Sendzik said the chamber has always urged small businesses to have a policies-and-procedures manual or employee handbook with current workplace legislation.

“Being compliant is something that all businesses should strive to do,” Sendzik said.

“It prevents possible long-term issues that may cripple a business.”