What rules does Ontario’s Bill 168 layout for employers when it comes to verbal harassment in the workplace?
The Bill 168 amendments, which came into force on June 15, 2010, imposed new obligations on employers in Ontario with respect to workplace violence, including the use of threatening language, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. What Bill 168 tells us is “a statement or behaviour that it is reasonable for a worker to interpret as a threat to exercise physical force, in a workplace, that could cause physical injury to the worker” constitutes workplace violence and must be taken seriously.
