Analysis of Workplace Bullying and Harassment in the Canadian Context

This report examines the issues of workplace bullying and harassment within the Canadian context, focusing on the legal framework under the Employment Equity Act. It defines bullying and harassment behaviors, differentiating between unlawful actions and other forms of misconduct. The report emphasizes the importance of addressing these issues, outlining how employees can report incidents, including informal methods like speaking with HR or a union representative, and formal processes such as filing a grievance or pursuing legal action. It also highlights the responsibilities of employers in preventing harassment, stressing the need for anti-bullying policies to recognize, deal with, and prevent such behaviors. The report references key sources to support the analysis and provide a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Running Head: PRACTICUM WORK 0
Anti-Bullying and Harassment at Workplace
Student Name:
Student University:

PRACTICUM WORK 1
Workplace Bullying and Harassment
Under Employment Equity Act in Canada, behaviour of bullying and harassment
while making someone feel offended or intimidated is unlawful (Hollis, 2017). Some
examples of harassing or bullying behaviour are:
 Unfair treatment
 To deny an individual’s promotion or training opportunities
 To spread malicious rumours
 To regularly undermine or pick on an individual
Also, bullying and harassment can happen:
 By letter
 By phone
 Face-to-face
 By email
Under the law, it can be said that harassment is under the law but bullying is not
against the law (Bernstein, 2017). It happens when such unwanted behaviour occurs:
 Sex
 Gender reassignment
 Age
 Civil partnership and marriage
 Disability
 Maternity and pregnancy
 Religion or belief
 Race
 Sexual orientation
In the workplace, it is essential for employees to look towards the unwanted
behaviour related to bullying or harassing which can be possible by sorting the issue
informally at first (Escartín, 2016). If not, then they can talk to their:
 Human Resource (HR) department
 Manager

PRACTICUM WORK 2
 Trade Union representative
Even if this does not give any result, victims are able to make sure that they file
complaint against their employer through grievance procedure. There is other choice as well
if this fails and that is to take legal action at an “employment tribunal”. Furthermore, there are
some responsibilities of employers they need to follow as it is essential for them to prevent
bullying and harassment. It is their liability if any employee suffers from any harassment
(Blackwood, Bentley, Catley, & Edwards, 2017). Thus, implementation of anti-bullying and
harassment policies can help in problems prevention while setting up. Within the policy, it is
important to “recognize, deal with and prevent” bullying and harassment in the workplace.

PRACTICUM WORK 3
References
Bernstein, A. (2017). A zero tolerance approach to bullying in the workplace. Nursing And
Residential Care, 19(12), 706-708.
Blackwood, K., Bentley, T., Catley, B., & Edwards, M. (2017). Managing workplace
bullying experiences in nursing: the impact of the work environment. Public Money &
Management, 37(5), 349-356.
Escartín, J. (2016). Insights into workplace bullying: psychosocial drivers and effective
interventions. Psychology research and behavior management, 9, 157.
Hollis, L. (2017). Workplace bullying in the United States and Canada: Organizational
accountability required in higher education. Comparative Civilizations Review,
76(76), 13.