Introduction

On March 27, 2024, the Act to Prevent and fight Psychological Harassment and Sexual Violence in the Workplace (the Act) received royal assent and several of its provisions have since come into force. The Act amends several statutes, including the Act respecting occupational health and safety[i] (AOHS), the Act respecting labour standards[ii] (ARLS), the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases[iii] (ARIAOD) and the Labour Code[iv]. These amendments aim to eliminate unacceptable behaviours and improve the remedies available to those who are subjected to them. They also have the effect of bringing greater consistency between labour standards and health and safety laws related to harassment and workplace violence.

1. Act respecting occupational health and safety

1. New definition

The Act introduces a new definition of "sexual violence":

“means any form of violence targeting sexuality or any other misconduct, including unwanted gestures, practices, comments, behaviours or attitudes with sexual connotations, whether they occur once or repeatedly, including violence relating to sexual and gender diversity.”

The new definition came into force on March 27, 2024.

2. Regulatory authority

The Act also grants new regulatory authority to the Commission de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité au travail (the CNESST) (Quebec health and safety board), enabling it to provide for measures to be taken by an employer to prevent or stop sexual violence.

This amendment came into force on March 27, 2024.

The ARLS now sets out the minimal content tha

3. Prevention mechanisms

The Act modifies prevention mechanisms by explicitly including sexual violence in the assessment of work-related psychosocial risks and in the prevention program and action plan.

This amendment will come into force on October 1, 2025.

2. Act respecting labour standards

1. Extending employers' obligations

The ARLS has been amended to explicitly clarify that the employer's obligation to prevent psychological harassment extends to harassment made by "any person" present in the workplace, including the employer's suppliers and customers. This is more a clarification than a modification to existing legal principles, as it merely confirms what has been well established by the decision-makers for several years.

This amendment came into force on March 27, 2024.

2. Mandatory policy content

The ARLS now sets out the minimal content that an employer must include in its psychological harassment prevention and complaint processing policy, including specific information on training programs on the prevention of psychological harassment offered by the employer, the identification of a person designated by the employer to handle a complaint of harassment and a description of the process applicable when an investigation is conducted by the employer.

We invite employers to review their harassment policy with our professionals before these requirements come into force on September 27, 2024.

3. Protection against reprisals

The ARLS introduces new protections against reprisals for an employee who witnesses or denounces a situation of psychological harassment suffered by another person and collaborates in the handling of a report or complaint.

This amendment came into force on March 27, 2024.

4. Prohibition of amnesty clauses

Amnesty clauses[1] will now become inapplicable in cases of misconduct involving physical, psychological or sexual violence. Thus, employers can (and must) now take into account previous disciplinary measures imposed on the employee for such behaviour when imposing a new measure for violent behaviour, despite the presence of an amnesty clause providing for the withdrawal of the previous measure after a certain period of time.

The purpose of the amendment is to better protect individuals from repeated offenders or people who are physically or psychologically violent.

This amendment came into force on March 27, 2024.

5. Punitive damages

The ARLS allows the Administrative Labour Tribunal to award punitive damages to an employee who is a victim of psychological harassment, even when the employee receives income replacement indemnity from the CNESST as a result of suffering from an employment injury caused by the same events as those on which his or her complaints are based.

This amendment came into force on March 27, 2024.

3. Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases

1. New presumptions

The Act amends the ARIAOD and creates two new presumptions designed to facilitate the recognition of an employment injury resulting from sexual violence:

1. Pursuant to these amendments, the ARIAOD will provide that injuries or diseases shall be presumed to have arisen out of or in the course of the worker’s work when it results from sexual violence suffered by the worker and committed by the worker’s employer, one of the employer’s officers in the case of a legal person or one of the workers whose services are used by such employer.
2. Second, it will also state that diseases occurring within three months after the worker has suffered sexual violence in the workplace are presumed to be an employment injury.

Once the elements constituting the presumption are established, it will be up to the employer to rebut it, failing which the worker's claim will be established.

This amendment will come into force on September 27, 2024.

2. New measures to protect the confidentiality of medical Records

The Act restricts the employer's right to access the medical file when a person submits an employment injury claim to the CNESST. This amendment applies to all types of employment injury. It also adds new sanctions and offences in the event of a violation of these provisions.

This amendment will come into force on September 27, 2024.

3. Extension of the time limit

The time limit for filing a claim with the CNESST for an occupational disease resulting from sexual violence has been extended to two years.

This amendment will come into force on September 27, 2024.

4. Exception to the imputation rules

The Act creates a special rule stipulating that, with certain exceptions, the cost of benefits due for injuries resulting from sexual violence will be charged to all employers.

This amendment came into force on March 27, 2024.

Conclusion

The Act brings important changes to the ARLS, AOHS and the Labour Code, some of which are already in effect. We invite you to watch or rewatch our webinar or review our slide deck for full details [here]. Our team is available to assist you in revising your policy in order to comply with these new rules.

A special thank you to Stéphanie Macdonald, law student, for her assistance with this article.

[1] An amnesty clause stipulates that once a certain period of time has elapsed, a disciplinary measure is removed from an employee's file and can no longer be invoked against him or her as part of the gradation of sanctions.

[i] RLRQ c S-2.1.

[ii] RLRQ c N-1.1.

[iii] RLRQ c A-3.001.

[iv] RLRQ c C-27.