PLEA gratefully acknowledges our primary core funder the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan for their continuing and generous support of our organization.
A Harassment and Violence Prevention Policy can be an effective tool against workplace harassment and violence if employees know about it and how to use it.
This may seem like a small thing but knowing what the policy says can help you, whether you have been harassed or experienced violence, witnessed harassment or violence, have harassment or violence reported to you, or are accused of harassment or violence.
Speaking up when you witness harassment or violence or are harassed or experience violence can be an effective way to prevent further harassment or violence. When it is safe to tell the person to stop this can be a simple and direct way to deal with an issue, particularly if you have doubts about whether the person knows their conduct is harmful to you.
If a complaint is not being dealt with as outlined in the policy, remind people about things like timelines, confidentiality and any other parts of the policy that are not being followed.
Your workplace's policy must have information about the complaint process.
You have additional options to consider, depending on the situation. For example, you can make a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Any workplace harassment or violence that is a crime should be reported to the police.
PLEA offers free online training on preventing and addressing workplace harassment.