The Ontario Government has passed Bill 132, the "Sexual
Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act (Supporting Survivors and
Challenging Sexual Violence and Harassment), 2016". Bill
132 amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act
("OHSA") to add additional obligations on employers with
respect to workplace harassment. A summary of Bill 132's
provisions can be found in my previous article.
For this article, I have focused on five key points that
employers should consider moving forward in advance of Bill
132's effective date (September 8, 2016):
Point #1 – Sexual Harassment is a Health and Safety
Issue
With Bill 132, the Government has continued to transform how
sexual harassment is regulated from a pure human rights issue into
a human rights and occupational health and safety issue. Under Bill
132, the definition of "workplace harassment" in OHSA now
includes "workplace sexual harassment". This means that
companies can face liability both under the Human
