Some Highlights of the new Regulations
- Language
- Competent Party is now referred to as Investigator.
- Complainant is now referred to as Principal Party.
- Incident is now referred to as Occurrence.
- Harassment is now explicitly included in the Code’s definition.
- The employer must respond to the Principal Party within 7 calendar days of receiving the notice of an occurrence (complaint).
- If the complaint cannot be resolved through the informal processes, an investigator must be appointed within 60 days of the employer receiving the notice of occurrence (complaint).
- The resolution process must be completed within one year.
- The employer must provide monthly updates.
- There are no time limits to submit a notice of occurrence during employment.
- A complainant can submit a notice of occurrence up to 3 months after employment ended.
- The employer must name a Designated Recipient to receive the notices of occurrence.
- Selection of the Investigator
- Where a list of competent investigators has been established by the employer in agreement with the H&S Committee, an investigator will be selected from that list with no choice provided to the Principal Party (complainant).
- Clear language to indicate that the Principal Party can insist that an investigation be conducted.
- Increased privacy protections.
- Employer must implement all recommendations from the Investigator’s report (that have been mutually agreed to with the H&S Committee).
- Employer must provide information to the parties on steps of the process.
- Employer must inform the Principal Party of their right to be represented.
[1] Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (SOR/86-304) [2] Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations (SOR/2020-130) [3] https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/L-2/ [4] Canadian Human Rights Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-6)