Bill 192 explained in plain English
Speaking Out About Workplace Violence and Workplace Harassment Act, 2017
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 192, the Speaking Out About Workplace Violence and Workplace Harassment Act, 2017, amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to protect workers from employment reprisals when they report or speak out about workplace violence and harassment.
This bill amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to provide new protections for workers who report or speak out about workplace violence and harassment. It clarifies that any action taken against a worker that negatively impacts their employment, such as termination, demotion, or intimidation, because they reported violence or harassment, is considered a reprisal. This protection applies to workers who act in good faith, seek advice, or participate in investigations related to workplace violence or harassment.
- Amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to expand protections for workers reporting workplace violence and harassment.
- Defines 'reprisal' as any measure affecting a worker's employment due to their good-faith reporting or speaking out about workplace violence or harassment.
- Specifies examples of reprisals, including ending employment, demoting, disciplining, suspending, imposing penalties, or intimidating a worker.
- Ensures these protections apply to workers who seek advice or information related to workplace safety laws and regulations.
- Workers in Ontario
- Employers in Ontario
- Supervisors in Ontario
- Joint health and safety committees
- Health and safety representatives
- Trade unions
- Inspectors under the Occupational Health and Safety Act
- The Ontario Labour Relations Board (implied by the nature of reprisal complaints)
- Workers have the right to report workplace violence and harassment in good faith without fear of reprisal.
- Workers have the right to seek advice or information about workplace safety laws without fear of reprisal.
- Employers and persons are prohibited from taking reprisals against workers for reporting or speaking out about workplace violence and harassment.
- The Act came into force on the day it received Royal Assent.
- The bill amends provisions related to reprisals, which are typically handled through existing enforcement mechanisms under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, such as complaints to the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
- The effectiveness of the protections relies on workers reporting in 'good faith', the definition of which is not further detailed in this bill.
- The bill does not specify monetary penalties for taking reprisals, relying on existing enforcement frameworks.
Amends Section 50 (1) to explicitly prohibit taking reprisals against workers who, in good faith, report or speak out about workplace violence and harassment. It also defines what constitutes a reprisal in this context.
Source: Section 1
Adds a new subsection (1.1) to Section 50, clarifying that a reprisal includes any measure that adversely affects a worker's employment, such as ending employment, demotion, discipline, suspension, imposition of penalties, or intimidation.
Source: Section 1
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced