Niagara Catholic District School Board EMPLOYEE WORKPLACE HARASSMENT POLICY STATEMENT OF GOVERNANCE POLICY
200 – Human Resources	Policy No 201.7
Adopted Date: March 26, 2002	Latest Reviewed/Revised Date: May 28, 2024

In keeping with the Mission, Vision, and Values of the Niagara Catholic District School Board (the “Board”), the Board is committed to providing a safe working environment in which all employees are treated with consideration, dignity, respect, and equity in accordance with the gospel values of Jesus Christ.

 

The Board will not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment in any workplace of the Board.

This policy applies to all employees and is intended to address workplace harassment from all sources, including employers, supervisors, workers and members of the public.

 

The Board recognizes Workplace Harassment as;

Engaging in a course of vexatious comments or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known as unwelcome, including but not limited to:

·   Spreading rumours, gossip and innuendo;

·   Offensive or intimidating comments or jokes;

·   Bullying or aggressive behavior;

·   Social isolation, ostracizing or ignoring a worker;

·   Deliberately undermining someone or stopping that person from   completing his or her work;

·   Belittling a worker about their work, achievements or hobbies;

·   Assigning demeaning or insulting work;

·   Displaying or circulating offensive pictures or materials;

·   Inappropriate staring, spying and stalking;

·   Sabotaging or tampering with a worker’s work, equipment or belongings;

·   Workplace sexual harassment; and

·   Isolating or insulting a worker because of gender identity

Without limiting the foregoing, some examples of workplace sexual harassment include:

·   Unwanted sexual attention by a person who knows or ought reasonably to show that such attention is unwanted

·   Express or implied promise of reward for complying with sexually-oriented request

·   Sexually-oriented behavior or gender-based abusive and unwelcome conduct or comment that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment

·   Making sexual jokes or other similarly offensive comments

·   Posting or disseminating material, jokes, photographs, videos, or other material of sexual content.

While incidents of sexual harassment are often characterized by an imbalance of power in the workplace, this is not necessarily always the case, with a co-worker and even a manager sometimes being the recipient of workplace harassment.

 

Workplace Harassment includes ethnocultural harassment, defined as;

 

One or a series of unwanted, unsolicited remarks, behaviours or communications, in any form, directed toward an individual or members of an identifiable group because of a prohibited ground of discrimination.

Examples of Ethnocultural harassment include, but are not limited to:

·   Displaying racist or derogatory pictures or other offensive material

·  Refusing to work with someone because of their racial or ethnic origin

The Board believes that the eradication of harassment in the school/workplace is the joint obligation of the employer and the employee. Any employee who becomes aware of a harassment situation of any kind has a responsibility to draw appropriate attention to it. Failure to take measures to address harassment in the workplace has legal implications for the employer under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

 

When a harassment complaint arises, the Board may decide to achieve resolution through a formal or informal process. Information gathered during this process will be confidential and will not be disclosed except to the extent necessary to protect fellow employees, to investigate, to take corrective action or as otherwise required by law.

 

The Board will deal with all claims in a fair and timely manner, respecting the dignity, and privacy of all parties concerned as much as possible. Each party involved has equal rights at all steps throughout the process. This policy prohibits reprisals against individuals acting in good faith who report incidents of workplace harassment or act as witnesses. The Board will take all reasonable and practical measures to prevent reprisals, threats of reprisals, or further harassment. Reprisal is defined as any act of retaliation, either direct or indirect.

 

The Board will review this policy on an annual basis, and will post this policy in the workplace along with any applicable procedures and/or related programs.

 

The Director of Education will issue Administrative Operational Procedures  for the implementation of this policy.

 

References:

·   Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act

·   Occupational Health & Safety Act (December 2009) Bill 13

·   Bill 132: Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act   

·   Ontario Human Rights Code 1990

·   Teaching Profession Act

·  Human Rights Legal Support Centre   

·   Employee Assistance Program

·  Niagara Catholic District School Board Policies/Procedures

o   Access to Board Premises AOP (302.6.3)  

o   Code of Conduct Policy (302.6.2)

o   Complaint Resolution Policy (800.3)

o   Employee Code of Conduct and Ethics Policy (201.17)

o   Employee Workplace Violence Policy (201.11)

o   Privacy Policy (600.6)

o   Records and Information Management Policy (600.2)

o   Trustee Code of Conduct Policy (100.12)

o   Protocol Between Niagara Region Police Service and the Niagara Catholic District School Board   

 

Adopted Date: Revision History:

March 26, 2002   February 23, 2010 February 28, 2012 November 26, 2013 February 24, 2015 June 21, 2016 May 23, 2017 November 27, 2018 July 10, 2019 October 22, 2019 April 27, 2021 February 9, 2022 June 22, 2022 May 29, 2023 June 20, 2023 May 28, 2024

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