Bill 111 explained in plain English
Speaking Out About Workplace Violence and Workplace Harassment Act, 2019
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 1st 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
This bill amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to protect workers from reprisal when they report or speak out about workplace violence and harassment.
Bill 111, also known as the Speaking Out About Workplace Violence and Workplace Harassment Act, 2019, amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The changes protect workers from retaliation if they speak out about workplace violence or harassment. It clarifies that any action adversely affecting a worker's employment because they reported or were involved with issues related to workplace violence, harassment, or other contraventions of the Act is considered a reprisal.
- Amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to protect workers from reprisals when they speak out about workplace violence and harassment.
- Defines reprisal as any measure taken against a worker that adversely affects their employment.
- Includes examples of reprisals such as ending employment, demotion, discipline, suspension, imposing penalties, or intimidation and coercion.
- Specifies that a worker is protected from reprisal if they, in good faith, act in compliance with the Act, seek advice about contraventions, seek enforcement of the Act, assist health and safety committees, refuse to perform an act that violates the Act, give information to relevant parties, make reports of workplace violence or harassment, participate in investigations, or testify in proceedings.
- States that the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Workers in Ontario
- Employers in Ontario
- Joint health and safety committees
- Health and safety representatives
- Inspectors under the Occupational Health and Safety Act
- Workers have the right to speak out about workplace violence and harassment without facing reprisal.
- Employers and other persons are prohibited from taking reprisals against workers who speak out about workplace violence and harassment.
- The Act came into force on the day it received Royal Assent.
- The bill does not specify new penalties but amends provisions that protect workers from reprisal, implying that actions taken against workers who speak out could be subject to existing enforcement mechanisms under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
- The bill specifies that a worker must act 'in good faith' when complying with the Act or speaking out, but it does not define what constitutes 'good faith'.
- While the bill provides examples of reprisals, it states these are not exhaustive ('includes, without limiting the generality of the foregoing').
- The bill amends existing provisions but does not introduce new enforcement bodies or specific penalty amounts for taking reprisals.
Adds protections for workers who speak out about workplace violence and harassment, and clarifies what constitutes a reprisal against a worker.
Source: Section 1
The existing provisions related to reprisals are replaced with new language that specifically includes protections for workers who speak out about workplace violence and harassment, and provides a broader definition of reprisal.
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