Amanda Myers CASE STUDY 2 –

WORKPLACE
Jessica Mills
Nicole Milne
Samantha Luk
Kayla McGough VIOLENCE AND
Hope Leroux
HARASSMENT
 INTRODUCTION

● Workplace Violence

● Workplace Harassment

● Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)

● Philips’ Workplace Violence & Harassment Policies

● Why are these policies put in place?

Read by Amanda Next: Hope

WORKPLACE
VIOLENCE
 WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

• “The OHSA defines workplace violence as the exercise of physical

force by a person against a worker, in a workplace, that causes or
could cause physical injury to the worker.” (Government of Ontario,
2021)
• It also includes:
• “an attempt to exercise physical force against a worker in a workplace,
that could cause physical injury to the worker.”(Government of
Ontario, 2021)
• “a statement or behaviour that a worker could reasonably interpret as a
threat to exercise physical force against the worker, in a workplace,
that could cause physical injury to the worker.” (Government of
Ontario, 2021)

Read by Hope
 EXAMPLES OF WORKPLACE
VIOLENCE

• Physical attacks such as kicking, hitting, pushing or throwing objects.

• Verbal or written threats that express an intent to harm.

• Threatening behavior such as shaking fist or destroying property.

• Wielding a weapon.

• Sexual violence.

Read by Hope Next: Amanda

 WORKPLACE
HARASSMENT
 WORKPLACE HARASSMENT

• “The OHSA defines workplace harassment as engaging in a course of vexatious

comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought
reasonably to be known to be unwelcome.” (Government of Ontario, 2021)

• This also includes Workplace Sexual Harassment

• Defined as “engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker, in a
workplace because of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression where
the course of comment or conduct is known or ought reasonably to be known to be
unwelcome.” (Government of Ontario, 2021)

or

• “making a sexual solicitation or advance where the person making it is in a position to

confer, grant or deny a benefit or advancement to the worker and the person knows or ought
reasonably to know the solicitation or advance is unwelcome.”(Government of Ontario,
2021)

Read by Amanda
 EXAMPLES OF WORKPLACE
HARASSMENT

• Engaging in verbal abuse such as yelling, name calling, making threats.

• Making remarks, jokes, innuendos that demean, ridicule, intimidate or offend.

• Belittling a worker’s opinions.

• Spreading malicious rumors.

• Undermining or sabotaging a worker’s work.

• Deliberately ignoring or excluding a worker.

• Workplace sexual harassment.

Read by Amanda Next: Jessica

 EMPLOYEE
ASSISTANCE
PROGRAM
(EAP)
 EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
(EAP)

• “is a confidential, short term, counselling service for employees with

personal difficulties that affect their work performance.” (Government of
Canada, 2020)
• Used as support for employees to solve issues that may be affecting their
work; vary from company to company
• “EAPs are usually a program purchased or funded by your employer and
provided by an external organization or occasionally by a department within
your company.” (Government of Canada, 2020)
• Contact your HR department, union, manager or anyone related to health
and safety within your company for information related to EAPs

Read by Jessica
 EAP – WHAT CAN IT DO FOR
YOU?
An EAP can assist you as an employee for a wide variety of issues. These include but are not limited to:

• Personal difficulties
• Job stress
• Relationship difficulties
• Eldercare, childcare, parenting difficulties
• Harassment
• Substance abuse
• Separation and loss
• Balancing work and family
• Financial or legal
• Family violence
• Retirement/Layoff
• Long-term illness/disability
• Crisis situations
(Government of Canada, 2020)

Read by Jessica Next: Samantha

 PHILIPS’
WORKPLACE
VIOLENCE &
HARASSMENT
POLICIES
 PHILIPS

Philips is a technology company that is devoted to improving people’s health

and well-being through meaningful innovation (Philips, 2021).
You may know them for their:
• Toothbrushes
• Lightbulbs
• TVs
• Kitchen appliances
• Medical equipment

Read by Samantha
 PHILIPS’ WORKPLACE
HARASSMENT POLICY
• Philips has a harassment free policy. 

• This includes: 
• Discrimination of any kind

• Hostile, humiliating, and threatening behaviours

• Sexual harassment

• All harassment should be reported.

 
• All complaints will be taken seriously and investigated.

• All complaints/reports can be made anonymously or you can identify yourself.

(Philips, 2016)
Read by Samantha
 PHILIPS’ WORKPLACE
VIOLENCE POLICY
Philips has a violence free policy. 
• Any acts of violence, threats, or dangerous behaviour will not be tolerated.  

This can include:

• Physical harm
• Vandalism
• Harassment

• There are no weapons allowed on company property.

 
• Any violations are to be reported immediately.

• Consequences of violating this policy can result in disciplinary action up to termination.

(Philips, 2016)
Read by Samantha Next: Kayla
 WHY PUT THESE
POLICIES IN PLACE?
 WHY PUT THESE POLICIES IN
PLACE?
• It’s important to have policies in place because:

• They protect employees from other co-workers that could be affecting them
negatively
 
• They protect employees from harmful situations that can affect themselves and
their work

• They allow employees to feel secure in the workplace, knowing that they can
report discrimination, harassment or violence when it occurs

• Importantly, it allows for individuals who violate the policies to be held

accountable for their actions

Read by Kayla Next: Nicole

 CONCLUSION

• Overall, workplace violence is described as the exercise of physical force

by a person against a worker in a workplace that causes physical harm.
Any physical act that is made by one worker to another with the intent of
physical harm would be considered workplace violence.
• In short, workplace harassment is engaging in any sort of inappropriate
comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known to be
unwelcome.
• Your place of employment should make it known to you if they have an
employee assistance program set in place. If you’re unclear, be sure to
ask. If needed, do not feel hesitant to utilize your companies EAP
program as it is set in place to protect you!

Read by Nicole
 CONCLUSION

• Philips has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment and violence. They

want their employees to always feel safe and comfortable. Philips takes
all reports and complaints seriously and encourage all incidents to be
reported so that they can continue to ensure that they provide a positive
and safe work environment for everyone.

• Remember, workplace violence and harassment policies are put in place

to protect all members of the staff and to assist employees with handling
an unwelcome situation.
• These policies ensure that at the end of the day, each employee feels safe
and those who violate the policies are held accountable.

Read by Nicole
 REFERENCES

• Government of Canada. (2020, February 06). Employee Assistance Programs (EAP).

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety:
https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/eap.html
• Government of Ontario. (2021). Understand the law on workplace violence and
harassment. Government of Ontario:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/understand-law-workplace-violence-and-harassment#:~:t
ext=What%20is%20workplace%20harassment%3F,of%20workers%2C%20in%20a%
20workplace
• The Infrastructure Health and Safety Association. “Workplace Violence and
Harassment.” Ihsa.ca, (2021),
www.ihsa.ca/topics_hazards/workplace_violence_harassment.aspx
• Philips. (2016, March). Philips Ethics & Business Conduct Program. Philips:
https://www.usa.philips.com/c-dam/b2bhc/us/About-Us/compliance/Simply-right.pdf

• Philips. (2021). About us. Philips: https://www.philips.com/a-w/about.html