Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine is the premier workplace health and safety publication in Canada. We cover a wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry, and from general safety management to specific workplace hazards.
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11 2019 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER LEGAL LANDSCAPE DEANAH SHELLY T his summer, there were reams of news headlines about class-action lawsuits lodged on behalf of those who experienced workplace sexual harassment and violence. Members of the Canadian Armed Forces were awarded $800 million, workers of the Department of National Defence received $100 million and, three years after settling a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit with female officers for $100 million, the RCMP reached a second settlement for a further $100 million for women in non- policing roles. As such, it should come as little surprise that 2020 will see the implementation of a stand-alone federal workplace harassment and violence prevention regulation. One of the most notable mechanisms introduced to support the principal party (previously referred to as the claimant or victim) is the right to be represented at any time during the process. This right suggests that the principal party could elect to have a lawyer, paralegal, co- worker, union rep or family member be their spokesperson. Employers should develop their own list of representatives to propose to the principal party, as this provides an opportunity to introduce a knowledgeable, constructive and other- wise competent resource into the early stages of the resolution process. If the first stage of the resolution pro- cess fails to resolve the issue, the matter may move to conciliation. Conciliation must be agreed to by both parties, and there must be agreement on who is to facilitate the conciliation. If conciliation fails, the matter proceeds to investigation. The principal party, the responding party (the person responsible for the vio- lence or harassment) and the employer must unanimously agree on the person who is to act as the investigator. The employer cannot unilaterally appoint one, nor propose a list of persons, unless the list has been jointly developed with the applicable partner (the workplace safety committee). In cases where all parties cannot agree to a person within a 60-day period, one must be requested from the Minister of Employment, Work- force Development and Labour. The proposed federal regulation spe- cifically permits complaints to be lodged anonymously. The principal party or a third party that witnesses an occurrence — or is informed of the occurrence by the principal party or the responding party — can make an anonymous claim to the employer. The next step in resolv- ing the occurrence depends on whether the principal party chooses to remain anonymous. If anonymity is not waived, the resolution process requires the employer and the applicable partner to jointly review the written violence and Feds overhaul violence, harassment legislation Employers must provide regular updates on status of resolution harassment risk assessment and update it. These actions are also required in cases where the principal party opts not to pro- ceed to resolution and instead abandons the claim. In these circumstances, resolution is achieved once the employer meets with the applicable partner (safety committee), reviews the assessment and updates it, if required. A joint review and update of the assessment must be completed within one year of receiving the initial notification of the occurrence. However, if the employer does not agree that a particular update is required, then the employer's decision prevails. This right is given to the employer any time the regulation requires a joint outcome with the applicable partner. A record of each failed joint agreement must be kept for 10 years, along with the reasons why a joint resolution was not achieved. Beginning on the first month after the notification of an occurrence is given, the employer or the designated recipient (a person designated by the employer to whom the notification may be given) must give the principal party and the responding party monthly updates relating to the status of the resolution. Aggregate data relating to the resolu- tion of the occurrences must be reported to the safety committee every six months. It is anticipated that reporting will help ensure that the workplace is properly monitored to identify hazards and that assessments are being appropriately reviewed and updated, pursuant to the data received. A former employee has up to three months after the day their employment ended to submit a notification of an occurrence. This reality may well moti- vate employers to do two things more often when terminating an employee: first, carry out detailed and meaningful exit interviews when an employee resigns, and second, offer a "without prejudice" severance package in exchange for a com- prehensive release that prohibits former employees from initiating further legal proceedings against the employer. Federal workplaces covered under Part II of the Canada Labour Code will have six months after the day the regulation comes into force in 2020 to have the prescribed training and assessments in place. Follow- ing this period, new hires are required to be trained within three months. Provin- cially regulated employers also need to continue to pay attention to these key developments as they could very well be adopted by provincial regulators that do not yet have similar legislative require- ments in effect. COS Deanah Shelly is a senior associate in the Toronto office of Mathews Dinsdale & Clark. She is a member of the firm's national occupational health and safety and workers' compensation practice group. She can be reached at (416) 869-2502 or dshelly@ mathewsdinsdale.com, or visit www. mathewsdinsdale.com for more information. A former employee has up to three months after the day their employment ended to submit a notification of an occurrence. Congratulations to the following OHS professionals who have recently been granted the Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) ® Professionnel en sécurité agréé du Canada (PSAC) ® designation. The BCRSP is a self-regulating, self-governing organization certified by BSI Management Systems to ISO 9001. The CRSP ® certification is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada to ISO 17024. Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals/Conseil canadien des professionnels en sécurité agréés 6700 Century Avenue, Suite 100, Mississauga, ON L5N 6A4 905-567-7198, 1-888-279-2777, www.bcrsp.ca Divine Agboadoh CRSP Jennifer Allison CRSP Peter Alomansi CRSP Keira Andrews CRSP Brandon Andrus CRSP Darcie Babysh CRSP Shama Bachra CRSP Jason Baia CRSP Shari Barnsdale CRSP Andrew Barrett CRSP Eli Rafael Barros CRSP James Bates CRSP Adam Battrick CRSP Kelsey Beauchesne CRSP Luc Beaulne CRSP Jordan Beck CRSP Audrone Behm CRSP Laura Bezemer CRSP Amber Bickerton CRSP Gerrit Bjalek CRSP Hallie Blair CRSP Hugo Boudriau CRSP Julie Bourdages CRSP Derek Braithwaite CRSP Miranda Nicole Brazil CRSP Curtis Brewster CRSP Karla Brown CRSP Muhammad Bukhari CRSP Tyler Burley CRSP Timothy Burlock CRSP Victor Buwa CRSP Laura Canfield CRSP Alston Carey CRSP Ronald Ian Case CRSP Lindsay Chisholm CRSP Paul Chomos CRSP Jessica Leigh Christian CRSP David Cobb CRSP Catherine Connauton CRSP Frank Conroy CRSP Sandra L Cook CRSP Rhys Cooper CRSP Shannon Corbeil CRSP Gasper Correia CRSP Alyssa Cruickshank CRSP Marie-Helene D'Anjou CRSP Zachary Deis CRSP Ashley Den Duyf CRSP Rhys Densmore CRSP Michelle Desormeau CRSP Robin Dhillon CRSP Mandy Donaldson CRSP Remiel Doonanco CRSP Muhsen Dorias CRSP Christopher Drake CRSP Simon D'Silva CRSP Luce-Helene Duguay CRSP Nicole Dunsmore CRSP Ryan Durand CRSP Scott Falshaw CRSP Amy Faulhafer CRSP Stephanie Alexis Ferguson CRSP Gabriel Filion CRSP Aimee Finnson CRSP James Fleming CRSP David Flohr CRSP Daniel Forma CRSP Christian Fournier CRSP Anthony Fuerth CRSP Scott Fuller CRSP Robert Gabriele CRSP Karen Dianne Tracy Gardiner CRSP Ryan Garteig CRSP Monty Gillard CRSP Jason Goossens CRSP Jason Goudie CRSP Anick Goudreau CRSP James Groves CRSP Arlene Guthrie CRSP Amy Ha CRSP Erik Hakansson CRSP Alexander Harling CRSP Richard Harris CRSP Matthew Hartling CRSP Kyle Heagle CRSP Benjamin John Heath CRSP Erin Heimbecker CRSP Dustin Heisler CRSP Ehsan Hemmativaghef CRSP Daniel Hsieh CRSP Ioan Ilina CRSP Nosakhare Iseghayan CRSP Perry Harold Jagdeo CRSP Daniel Jelinski CRSP Joey Jesse CRSP Christine Johnston CRSP Brent Jones CRSP Christopher Jones CRSP Daniel Kashuba CRSP Tara Kelly CRSP Eddy Kibambe CRSP Aaron Kincaid CRSP James Kittmer CRSP Garnet Klassen CRSP Uldis Knox CRSP Pavel Kolupanov CRSP Jeremy Laird CRSP Jonathan LaMacchia CRSP Jean Pierre Lauzon CRSP Steven LeBlanc CRSP Arlene Ledi-Thom CRSP Seungho Lee CRSP Michelle Leeper CRSP Sherry Lesmeister CRSP Nancy Letourneau CRSP Spencer Levacque CRSP Jing Li CRSP Oxana Limareva CRSP Michael Ling CRSP James Lintern CRSP Alexandra Lopes CRSP Jessica Lund CRSP Susan Claire Lyles CRSP Denise Lynch CRSP Jason Lysyk CRSP Benjamin MacDonald CRSP Alaisdair Mackinnon CRSP Mathew MacLeod CRSP William Madill CRSP Niclas Manson CRSP Nicholas Markowsky CRSP Wes Mazur CRSP Paul McAtamney CRSP William McCleary CRSP Travis McCue CRSP Alistair McIntyre CRSP Jared Memory CRSP Adrien Melaine Miller CRSP Shawn Molnar CRSP Dennie T Morrison CRSP Steven John Mousseau CRSP Donald Murphy CRSP Paula Murray CRSP Teela Narsih CRSP Lisa Nauta CRSP Muhammad Naveed ur Rehman CRSP Monique Madonna Norman CRSP Michael Notte CRSP Shelly Nowell CRSP David Nuessler CRSP James O Driscoll CRSP Gaetan Olivier CRSP Emily Ortis CRSP Ronald Kent O'Sullivan CRSP Phanie Ouimet CRSP Michael Paquette CRSP Wanda Pardy-Watkins CRSP Kurtis Pealo CRSP Tyler Pereverziff CRSP Chad Peterson CRSP April Dawn Pike CRSP Brandon Prince CRSP Katryna Pudlo CRSP Roger Regehr CRSP Roxanne Rempel CRSP Frederick Reyes CRSP Glenn Richardson CRSP Julie Richmond CRSP Jason Roarke CRSP Randy Roberts CRSP David Robson CRSP Michael Roche CRSP Leon Roegiest CRSP Brittany Rose CRSP Robert Roy CRSP Shari Russell Opara CRSP Whitney Rutherford CRSP Vignesh Kumar Sadasivam CRSP James Sasseville CRSP Ankit Saxena CRSP Umar Sayi CRSP Stuart David Schellenberger CRSP Darcy Schultz CRSP Gary Scott CRSP Kevin Doug Shanahan CRSP Ruchir Sharma CRSP Sharad Sharma CRSP Aden Sheikh CRSP Sally Sheldrake CRSP Kelly Shepard CRSP Steve Sheppard CRSP Jatinderpal Sidhu CRSP Fred Slaferek CRSP Donald Smiegielski CRSP Olayiwola Sokoya-Olayinka CRSP Harshad Solanki CRSP Sarah Somwaru CRSP Charlene Sperling CRSP Marcus Paul Splinter CRSP Teresa St. John CRSP Katrina Staples CRSP Kristie Steel CRSP James Steffenhagen CRSP Cherie Nichoel Striegler CRSP April Sung CRSP Bharat Kumar Sunkara CRSP Gireesh Suresh CRSP Ryan Swiech CRSP Irene Tang CRSP Candace Terry CRSP Sushil Thakre CRSP Celinas Theriault CRSP Koena Thoahlane CRSP Anthony Thomas CRSP Jason Thompson CRSP Tricia Traynor CRSP Chester Tuck CRSP Eric Tupholme CRSP Natalia Uchacz CRSP Caroline Valcourt CRSP Connor Craig Van Parys CRSP Love Veronneau CRSP Avijith Visweswaran Kutty CRSP Melissa Walsh CRSP Shaun Wanotch CRSP Andrew Ward CRSP Robert Ward CRSP Amanda Watson CRSP Jason Webber CRSP Kimberly Webber CRSP Phil Webster CRSP Jeremy Weigel CRSP Stephanie White CRSP David Wilkes CRSP Gina Williams CRSP Philip Wilson CRSP Julian Winsor CRSP Chantale Wold CRSP William Woodcock CRSP Mike Woods CRSP Heather Wright CRSP Kayla Yagelniski CRSP Edward Troy Yaschyshyn CRSP Whynona Yates CRSP Mirzada Zahic CRSP Tera Ziegler CRSP Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals BCRSP_NewCRSPAnnouncment_June2019Examination_COS Magazine.indd 1 2019-08-20 2:56:09 PM