Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 20 (Part XX) was proclaimed dealing with Violence Prevention in the Work Place. Work Place Violence.

Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 20 (Part XX) was proclaimed dealing with Violence Prevention in the Work Place.

Work Place Violence constitutes any action, conduct, threat or gesture of a person towards an employee that can reasonably be expected to cause harm, injury or illness to that employee.

Factors contributing to Work Place Violence may also include bullying, teasing, and abusive and aggressive behaviour.

To consult with the Local OSH Committee to carry out the employer’s obligations;

  To develop and post a work place violence prevention policy;

To provide a safe, healthy and violence free work place;

To identify all factors contributing to work place violence;

To dedicate attention, resources and time to address factors that contribute to work place violence;

To assist employees who have been exposed to work place violence; 

To assess the potential for work place violence;

To develop and implement systematic controls to eliminate or minimize work place violence or risk of work place violence;

To establish procedures for appropriate follow-up maintenance and corrective measures, including measures to promptly respond to unforeseen risks of work place violence;

To review, at least every 3 years, the effectiveness of the work place violence prevention measures and update them as necessary;

To keep for 3 years a written or electronic record of findings following the review;

  To develop in writing and implement emergency notification procedures to summon assistance where immediate assistance is required;

To consider in its emergency procedures, the matter of whether or not to contact the police and to notify the Local OSH Committee if the police are investigating a violent occurrence.

If the employer becomes aware of work place violence or alleged work place violence, it must try to resolve the matter with the employee as soon as possible.

If the matter remains unresolved, the employer must appoint a competent person to investigate.

who is impartial and seen by the parties to be impartial;

who has knowledge, training and experience in issues related to work place violence; and

has knowledge of relevant legislation.

◦ investigate the work place violence; and

 ◦ upon completion of the

investigation, provide to the employer a written report with conclusions and recommendations.

◦keep a record of the report from the competent person;

◦provide the local OSH Committee with a copy of the report;

◦adapt or implement controls to prevent a recurrence of the work place violence.

The employer is not required The employer is not required to appoint a competent to appoint a competent person to investigate if:person to investigate if:

◦ the work place violence was caused by a person other than an employee;

◦ it is reasonable to consider that engaging in the violent situation is a normal condition of employment;

◦ the employer has effective procedures and controls in place, involving employees to address work place violence.

CRA Policy received Agency Management Committee approval on April 20, 2011.

   Policy applies to incidents of

violence that occur between employees, as well as between employees and taxpayers.

Policy applies while engaged in CRA business or activities, at any place where an employee is engaged in work for the CRA.

Since the proclamation of the new Regulation, Locals began seeking direction from the UTE National Office as to how to deal with incidents of violence in the work place.

Queries from Locals consisted of:

◦UTE’s role in providing representation to the parties.

◦The process to be used to deal with the matter.

Grievance procedure?Harassment complaint procedure?Complaint pursuant to Regulation

20?Combination of procedures?

o The Role of the Union Representative in representing/accompanying the members with respect to their complaints.

o The appointment of the competent person.

National President appoints an ad hoc committee in the spring of 2013 to consider these matters and make recommendations to Executive Council.

◦ Senior Labour Relations Officer

◦ Chair of UTE National Health and Safety Committee

◦ Chair of UTE National Harassment Committee

◦ Advantages and disadvantages of filing a grievance, an harassment complaint, and/or a complaint under Regulation 20 of the Canada Labour Code (CLC) Regulations;

◦ The strengths and weaknesses of the CRA’s policies with respect to Violence in the Work Place and Harassment, as well as the grievance procedure;

◦ The Union’s role in each of these policies and the grievance procedure,

◦ The effectiveness and timeliness of each of these processes.

After much deliberation, the Committee recommended that in all cases of violence in the work place, members should file a grievance and a concurrent complaint under Regulation 20 (Part XX) of the CLC Regulations.

  The Committee further recommended that Union representatives submit a request to the authorized manager to hold the grievance in abeyance pending the disposition of the complaint.

The Committee further recommended that for incidents of violence in the work place, an harassment complaint/grievance NOT be filed.

o A complaint under Regulation 20 is regulatory whereas an harassment complaint is governed only under the jurisdiction of the employer’s harassment policy;

o A complaint under Regulation 20 made it possible for the matter to be heard by a third party (“competent person”) suitable to the parties as opposed to an harassment investigator chosen solely at the discretion of the employer;

o A complaint under Regulation 20 allowed for the Union to be involved as an advocate of the complainant;

o A complaint under Regulation 20 should serve to be more timely and effective than an harassment complaint;

o The concurrent grievance would serve to reinforce the Union’s role in the process and allow the Union to assist the member in ensuring that the matter was resolved in a timely and efficient manner.

The Ad Hoc Committee also recommended that when its work was finalized, the matter should be referred to the National Health and Safety Committee for ongoing monitoring and consultation with the CRA. 

The Committee’s recommendations were endorsed by the National President as an interim UTE policy and communicated to Executive Council and Locals in an email from the Senior Labour Relations Officer dated July 4, 2013.

In the same email, sample grievance wording was provided to address incidents of violence in the work place.  A resolution was presented to the September 2013 Executive Council meeting outlining the Committee’s recommendations and was approved by the Executive Council.

Subsequent to Executive Council’s endorsement of the Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendation, questions arose surrounding the ongoing role, if any, for the UTE National Harassment Committee.

As a result, the matter was again referred by the National President for consideration by the Ad Hoc Committee. The Ad Hoc Committee was expanded to include: ◦The Senior Labour Relations Officer;

◦The Chair of the UTE National Health and Safety Committee;

◦The Chair and former Chair of the UTE National Harassment Committee.

The Ad Hoc Committee met on May 13, 2015 and thoroughly discussed the matter and drafted a recommendation which included in part that the UTE National Harassment Committee be disbanded.

The recommendation was presented to and approved by the UTE Executive Council at its June 2015 meeting.

Problems and concerns are still being reported by members and Local representatives concerning a number of issues, including:

• The employer failing to appoint competent persons upon receiving complaints under Part XX;

• The employer attempting to unilaterally appoint its own managers to investigate complaints;

• The employer refusing leave for Union representatives to accompany members during the complaint process;

• The employer failing to recognize employee requests to be accompanied by a Union representative during the complaint procedure.

As a result of specific language in the Regulation, complainants are not receiving a copy of the written report. (The Regulation provides only that a copy of the report is given to the employer and the local OSH Committee.) Consultations between the UTE National Health and Safety Committee and the employer are ongoing in an attempt to address these and other matters.