Sample Discrimination and Harassment Policy
ABC COMPANY /UNION HARASSMENT AND
DISCRIMINATION POLICY
Effective Date:
Statement of Principles:
ABC Company (“ABC”)/UNION is committed to providing a work
environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity.
Each individual has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that
promotes equal opportunities and prohibits discriminatory practices.
Harassment in the workplace is a form of discrimination. Harassment and
discrimination are offensive, degrading, and threatening. Abuse of power,
authority, or control is also considered a form of harassment. All forms of
harassment and discrimination are not acceptable and will not be tolerated at
ABC.
Those personal characteristics that are considered “protected grounds”
for the purpose of this policy are: race, ancestry, religion, place of origin,
colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation,
age, marital status, family status, mental or physical disability, social
conditions and political beliefs.
It is the responsibility of all employees/members to raise concerns
about harassment and discrimination. It is also the responsibility of all
employees/members to respond to, or not condone, harassment or
discrimination.
It is the responsibility of a director, manager, union representative or
any person within ABC who supervises, represents or manages one or more
employees/members to take immediate and appropriate action to report or
deal with incidents of harassment and discrimination of any type whether
brought to their attention or personally observed. Under no circumstances
should the complaints be dismissed or downplayed.
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ABC will take whatever action necessary to correct the situation.
These corrective steps may include counseling, reprimand, demotion,
suspension or dismissal of the offender.
ABC also considers harassment or discrimination by individuals who
are not employees/members as unacceptable, and acknowledges is
responsibility to support and assist in employee subjected to such
harassment or discrimination.
Objectives:
 To maintain a working environment that is free from harassment and
discrimination and in which employees treat each other with mutual
respect;
 To alert all employees/members to the fact that harassment and
discrimination in the workplace are demeaning practices that
constitute a profound disrespect of staff and are an offence under the
law;
 To establish a mechanism for receiving complaints of harassment and
discrimination and to provide a procedure which ABC will deal with
these complaints;
 To outline the preventative, remedial, and disciplinary actions that
may be taken when a complaint of harassment or discrimination has
been brought forward and substantiated.
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Definitions:
For the purposes of this policy, harassment in the workplace includes
personal and sexual harassment as well as abuse of authority.
Personal harassment means:
 Any vexatious behaviour in the form of repeated and hostile conduct,
verbal comments, actions or gestures based on a protected ground,
which are known or ought to be reasonably known to be unwelcome,
and result in a harmful work environment for the employee/member;
and
 Any vexatious behaviour in the form of repeated and hostile conduct,
verbal comments, actions or gestures, which are known or ought to be
reasonably known to be unwelcome, that negatively affects an
employee’s/members dignity, psychological, and/or physical integrity,
and results in a harmful work environment for the employee.
There may be circumstances where a single serious incident of such
behaviour may constitute harassment.
Sexual harassment means:
 Any conduct, comment, gesture or contact of a sexual nature,
whether on a one-time basis or a series of incidents that might
reasonably be expected to cause offence or humiliation, or, that
might reasonably be perceived as placing a condition of a sexual
nature on an employee’s/members continued employment or
opportunity for training or promotion, and ought to be reasonably
known to be unwelcome.
Abuse of authority is:
 Where an individual improperly uses the power and authority
inherent in a position to endanger an employee’s/members job, or,
in any way interferes with, or influences, an employee’s/members
career. It is the exercise of authority in a manner that serves no
legitimate work purpose and ought reasonably to be known to be
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inappropriate. The delivery of constructive feedback to an
employee/member on his/her performance does not constitute an
abuse of authority.
Complaint Procedure:
All complaints will be taken seriously and handled in a confidential
and sensitive manner. The rights of all concerned will be respected.
However, it must be known that should it be discovered that a complaint was
unfounded and made with malice, there will be serious consequences for the
accuser.
 An employee/member who believes that he or she has been
subjected to harassment or discrimination is encouraged to first
make it known to the individual that the behaviour is offensive and
unwelcome and it needs to stop.
 Where this cannot be done, or is unsuccessful, the employee
should submit a complaint on a Harassment/Discrimination
occurrence report. The report is to be forwarded to the
employee’s/members Human Resources/Union representative
without fear of reprisal. When possible, and employee should keep
a record of the incidents leading up to the complaint.
 Once a complaint is received, it will be kept strictly confidential.
The local HR/Union representative will contact the lead HR person
at the other ABC locations for collaboration. This team will
determine those employees to be involved in the investigation of
the complaint. Nevertheless, depending on availability, the
HR/Union representative, who will be in charge of the
investigation, will be one who normally works in a different
location than where the complainant works. An investigation will
be undertaken immediately and all necessary steps taken to resolve
the problem. The complainant will be kept informed of all
activities taken.
 Both the complainant and the alleged harasser will be interviewed,
as well as any individuals who may be able to provide relevant
information. All information will be kept in confidence.
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 Where harassment has been substantiated, ABC will take
appropriate disciplinary and corrective action and the incident will
be documented in a separate file to be held in the Human
Resources/Union member files. No documentation will be placed
in the complainant’s file.
 Where harassment has not be substantiated, no action will be taken
against an employee/member who has made a complaint in good
faith or the alleged harasser. In this case, no documentation of the
incident will be placed in either of the employee’s files.
 Regardless of the outcome of a harassment complaint made in
good faith, the employee lodging the complaint, as well as anyone
providing information, will be protected from any form of
retaliation by either co-workers or superiors.
Source: CCH Ultimate HR Manual
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