`Harassment’… how would we define that?
To a large extent, harassment is judged by its effect on the receiver or bystander rather than by the actual action itself. The Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act currently defines harassment as “engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome”.
This definition means that when it comes to actions that can reasonably be classified as `vexatious’ (provoking, irritating, threatening, annoying, insulting or demeaning), it is the recipients’ perception that determines whether these actions are `unwelcome’.
Some harassment policies add elements that further define harassment as any behaviour that “may have the effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment; interfering with an individual’s work performance; adversely affecting an individual’s employment relationship; and/or denying an individual dignity and respect”.
Many managers and even HR professionals think of `harassment’ as denoting serious behaviours such as unwanted fondling, rude racial or sexist remarks or outright discrimination.
But as you can see, given the emphasis on the impacted person’s experience both in law and in many existing policies, `harassment’ can cover quite a large terrain. If I work beside you and your vexatious actions cause me distraction and stress and therefore `interfere with my work performance’, we are squarely looking at a behaviour that would, under such policies, be defined as `harassment’.
Actions of `incivility’, such as not saying `good morning’ or refraining from helping a colleague, being moody and unfriendly, will probably not qualify as harassment under most policies. But anything `stronger’ than that probably can.
As Canada’s workplaces become increasingly diverse, more and more of us will feel that certain behaviours that others engage in are unwelcome in their demeaning, threatening or provoking nature to ourselves or others. That’s why it is extremely prudent to invest in prevention!
