Month: September 2017

BullyFreeBC is an advocacy and law reform agency operating to address problems of bullying and harassment in BC.

The group first formed in 2007, meeting in a Vancouver constituency office to discuss personal harassment in the workplace. The organizers came from different sectors and professions, but all had experienced bullying as a serious personal and professional problem – as an employer unable to resolve a situation between staff members engaged in mob warfare, as a co-worker who stood by helplessly and watched abuse happen repeatedly to a respected colleague, as a target who lost a career when the new boss used harassment to avoid paying severance. So those involved in the initial planning for BullyFreeBC already knew the damage that bullying and harassment can cause to individuals and workplaces.

The group widened the discussion and search for solutions at a 2008 symposium to consider how law reform might deal with this complex of problems. The participants looked at three options of where to put new coverage as a protection under law:

Employment Standards Act > … But the ESA does not cover enough people. It is designed to protect worker rights on statutory holiday pay and the number of hours of work in a day before overtime applies. There is no capacity in this legislation to deal with a toxic workplace or problems between employees.

Human Rights Code > … But the Code is not workplace specific, and it protects people from discrimination only on the grounds of group status. This is not the same as bullying which is personal harassment, targeted against an individual and not a member of a group.

Workers Compensation Act > … But the WCA only addresses injuries, not conduct and ethics at work. And the health and safety sector is not trained, equipped, or mandated to deal with problems of dysfunctional and potentially abusive relations between people at work.

In 2010 the BullyFreeBC Legislation Working Group carried on the symposium initiative and crafted a proposal for workplace bullying legislation. The proposed legislation addresses the various concerns and issues associated with the complex of problems for workers and workplaces dealing with bullying, and also allows for simultaneous changes to other affected laws and regulations as needed to harmonize with existing frameworks.

But in 2012, following on Saskatchewan and Ontario, BC passed Bill 14 to create coverage for workplace bullying and harassment under the Workers Compensation Act.

BullyFreeBC has been monitoring implementation of the coverage since then, and held a review session late in 2016 to assess the effects of the new legislation. While the discussion group found progress in awareness, participants from various workplace settings advised that adoption of anti-bullying measures was largely dependent on individual employer compliance and interest. The question of treating bullying and harassment as health and safety issues remains problematic. Of particular concern are the small business and non-profit workplaces, which provide most of the private sector employment opportunities in the province.

However, there is growing interest in revising and expanding protections for employees under the Employment Standards Act, so that standards for conduct in the workplace might be included.

As well, BC is re-introducing a Human Rights Commission (announcement), which could also offer expanded protections for workers dealing with personal harassment as a rights violation.

And BC passed a new Societies Act in 2016, coming into full force in 2019, requiring higher standards of workplace conduct and imposing real consequences for non-profits that do not fulfil their legal and fiduciary duties as employers.

BullyFreeBC continues to engage in discussion and law reform activities on all these concerns, while encouraging adoption of five recommendations, proposed in conjunction with the 2017 provincial election, to improve conditions generally in BC workplaces.

BullyFreeBC began in 2007 as a community-based dialogue group, organized by a coalition of volunteering individuals and staff from Lower Mainland human rights and legal service agencies. Participants met several times to discuss and share concerns about workplace bullying and harassment and then invited others to join in the conversation in May 2008 at an SFU-Wosk Centre for Dialogue event.

The dialogue group continued to meet over the next few years as diverse viewpoints helped to identify different types of harassment and contributed to a variety of options and solutions through working groups assigned to develop programming around law reform and awareness.

The Law Reform Working Group drafted legislation. The Awareness Group launched a website and began a social media program.

Recognizing the need for a more structured, formal and sustainable basis for operations, the organizers consulted with participants in 2010 and early 2011 to draft an agency mandate. Then BFBC registered as a provincial non-profit in April 2011.

As written into the Constitution, the purposes of the BullyFreeBC Society are:
a. to consult with various levels of government regarding anti-bullying legislation;
b. to assist government, companies and non-profit organizations to develop anti-bullying policies;
c. to educate the public about bullying;
d. to conduct research into bullying; and
e. to work with other groups to carry out the above purposes.

The duty of directors is to maintain the Society while working to fulfill the mandate. Membership supports this effort through dues and engagement.

After registering BFBC as a non-profit, the new directors outlined membership criteria and invited participants to join and help build the agency. Meanwhile, the group continued to hold dialogue sessions to discuss workplace bullying and legal reforms in Canada.

At that time, several provinces had already enacted workplace anti-bullying legislation (Quebec 2004 – website, Saskatchewan 2007 .pdf – 4 pp, Ontario 2009 .pdf – 10 pp), most recognizing the problem as an occupational health and safety concern.

As well, in 2009 the BC Supreme Court found that WorkSafeBC was treating workers with mental injuries differently from workers with physical injuries. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits this type of inequity, guaranteeing every Canadian equal treatment by public bodies (Section 15 – Equality Rights).

As a result of the BC Supreme Court decision (Plesner v. British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, 2009 BCCA 188 – CanLII), WorkSafeBC had to extend coverage to more mental stress injuries and deal with avoidable causes of workplace stress like harassment and bullying.

In March 2012, BFBC organized a law reform conference to consider the new coverage. Interested participants gathered for a day of presentations and discussion on how best to support employers and employees through the transition and requirements. The group attending and presenting helped to identify priorities and strategies, outlined training programs and how standards could be created, and made plans for connecting to different groups. Based on information collected and researched, BFBC distributed a grant-funded e-binder of resources on workplace anti-bullying programs, policies and law reform to people requesting the research.

According to the Workers Compensation Amendment Act 2011 – Bill 14, claims relating to mental disorders, including bullying and harassment, may now be accepted under the Workers Compensation Act. WorkSafeBC Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) regulations and policies outline responsibilities for both supervisors and employees to prevent and address bullying and harassment in the workplace, and the WorkSafeBC website provides free resources such as guidebooks and forms.

Next time > Part II – Since Bill 14