1. What do you see contributing to the ‘power’ Harold has in this situation? What changes could occur that would impact the ‘power’ he appears to have? In countries such as Finland, France, the Netherlands, Serbia and Australia, the requirement to provide a safe work environment free from aggression is built into work health and safety legislation. Scandinavian countries have had such laws since 1994. Workplace aggression has been defined as ‘negative behaviour perpetrated by one employee against another employee that targets are motivated to avoid’ (Bowling and Hershcovis, 2017: 2). Types of aggression may include bullying, verbal and physical abuse, sexual harassment.

In Canada, the legal arena for workplace aggression has generally fallen under the scope of human rights legislation but, in recent years, it has also become common for workers’ compensation boards to consider complaints as possible compensable claims. In 2011, the province of British Columbia (BC)

introduced amendments to its Workers’ Compensation Act to provide employees with the ability to file a compensable claim for a mental disorder if that mental disorder is a reaction to a traumatic event in the workplace, or is caused by a significant work-related stressor. This includes being exposed to bullying and harassment.

WorkSafeBC, which is responsible for the implementation of BC’s Workers’ Compensation Act, has defined bullying and harassment as:

(a) including any inappropriate conduct or comment by a person towards a worker that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would cause that worker to be humiliated or intimidated, but

(b) excluding any reasonable action taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management and direction of workers or the place of employment.

WorkSafeBC stipulates that employers, workers, and supervisors must all take reasonable steps to prevent where possible or otherwise minimize workplace bullying and harassment. Employers are required to have a policy and process for dealing with complaints and employees are obliged to report any bullying and harassment they observe or experience in the workplace. In the first year and a half after the implementation of the new legislation, over 1000 bullying and harassment complaints were submitted, of which only 42 were accepted by WorkSafeBC.