Ontario Bill 132 Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act

New Regulations Add Requirements for Employers with Personnel in Ontario

As with Bill 168, "An act to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act with respect to violence and harassment in the workplace and other matters," Bill 132, "Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act (Supporting Survivors and Challenging Sexual Violence and Harassment), 2016 "requires organizations with any employees located in Ontario to take some additional steps to protect their employees from sexual violence."

To help ethics and compliance officers better understand and implement the requirements of Ontario Bill 132, we’ve compiled a variety of helpful resources and links on this page. If you have more questions, or simply want additional guidance from our experts to make sure your organization is protected from legal risk related to Bill 132 compliance, get in touch anytime.

Employers need to comply with the new requirements as of September 8, 2016.

Under the amended law, any employer that has employees working in Ontario is required to make a number of updates to their workplace harassment program and policies. Here's a brief overview of those changes, and how our solutions can help.

Requirement	How We Can Help
Employers must investigate incidents or complaints of workplace harassment (including workplace sexual harassment). The investigation needs to be one "that is appropriate in the circumstances." In addition, employers must inform the complainant and alleged harasser (if a worker) in writing of the investigation results and any corrective action.	NAVEX Global's Advisory Services team has trained hundreds of compliance officers how to conduct effective, defensible workplace investigations—from lawful interviewing to report-outs. Our team also provides unbiased investigation services. Organizations also benefit from our EthicsPoint incident management software, which helps ensure that every complaint is captured, documented, and appropriately assigned to the ethics and compliance officers who will address it.
Employers' written harassment policy and program must now include measures and procedures for workers to report incidents of workplace harassment to the employer or supervisor (or another person if the employer or supervisor is the alleged harasser).	Trusted by thousands of clients around the world, NAVEX Global’s ethics hotline services help employees and other stakeholders easily report potential ethics and compliance issues confidentially.
An employers' workplace harassment policy and program must also document how the employer will: 1) Investigate and deal with incidents or complaints of workplace harassment, 2) Keep the reporter's information confidential, and 3) Inform the worker of the results of the investigation. The program must also be reviewed annually, at a minimum.	Our PolicyTech policy and procedure management solution helps you manage your workplace harassment policies and procedures with confidence, allowing you to track and document, in a centralized location, who has received and attested to your policies. The software also allows you to set review dates for each of your policies and procedures to comply with review cycle requirements.
Employers must provide "information and instruction that is appropriate for the worker on the contents of the policy and program with respect to workplace harassment."	NAVEX Global offers award-winning online training courses that inspire ethical behavior. Our Workplace Harassment courses for managers and employees use the latest in adult learning—including gamification elements—to make training come to life. We also offer awareness solutions that help keep workplace harassment issues top of mind.

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