Workplace Violence and Harassment

Determining whether an incident should be considered workplace violence or harassment can be difficult given the similarities between the two. However, there are certain behaviours, actions, or situations that are generally considered to be workplace violence as opposed to harassment and vice versa.

For example, an incident involving a physical attack is generally considered to be workplace violence, as that behaviour “can reasonably be expected to cause harm, injury, or illness.” Comparatively, any serious or repeated rude, degrading, or offensive remarks are generally considered to be harassment.

There are also a number of situations that may not necessarily be pleasant, but cannot be classified as either workplace violence or harassment. For example, expressing differences of opinion, minor disagreements among co-workers, and any reasonable actions taken relating to the management of employees (e.g. allocating work, following-up on absences, requiring performance to job standards, taking disciplinary measures) are not generally considered to be workplace violence or harassment.

Investigations of workplace violence focus on developing preventive measures to ensure similar incidents do not occur in the future, while investigations relating to harassment are aimed at determining whether allegations of harassment are founded or not, with a focus on restoring the workplace. It is important for alleged incidents to be considered under the process that is best suited to resolve their underlying issues. For this reason, during their initial assessment of an alleged workplace violence incident the manager/supervisor may determine that there is a more appropriate process to effectively resolve the situation.