Workplace harassment policy in a parliamentary context.

• Author: Gaudreault, Maryse

Creating and implementing guidelines that directly affect working relationships in a context where there are many separate employers, like Quebec's National Assembly, presents some unique challenges. In this article, the author outlines how a multi-party Working Group examined best practices for preventing and managing situations involving workplace harassment and adapted them to suit the parliamentary context. In-depth, methodical deliberations by the Working Group resulted in a consensus policy that was proactively communicated to stakeholders.

In November 2014, the President of the National Assembly, Jacques Chagnon, mandated me to draw up recommendations on how best to prevent and manage harassment in our organization. As a result, a Working Group, composed of nine elected officials, (1) including both men and women from all parties represented in the House, developed a policy reflecting the political and administrative authorities' will to ensure that the National Assembly constitute a healthy, harmonious, harassment-free work environment for Members of the National Assembly (MNAs), their staff and all of its administrative employees. While the Assembly had already adopted a harassment policy several years earlier, it was restricted to administrative staff. And, although Quebec's legal framework offers victims of harassment (employees and others) various recourses, (2) no specific tools or mechanisms existed to prevent or manage situations involving harassment which MNAs and political staff might face in the course of their duties.

When the Office of the National Assembly adopted its Policy on Preventing and Managing Situations Involving Harassment in the Workplace (3) on June 4, 2015, for the first time in its history, our institution sent the clear, unequivocal message that no form of harassment is tolerated at the National Assembly, regardless of the perpetrator. This message was reiterated in the House in a motion hailing the Policy's coming into force.

Based on Best Practices and Adapted to the Parliamentary Context

The Working Group met several times. After analyzing the National Assembly's existing policy covering administrative employees as well as policies developed by other similar institutions, we consulted various legal and community professionals to better grasp the current legal status of situations involving psychological harassment and the case law governing them. Our goal was to identify the main elements of an effective policy and to better understand what the individuals involved in such situations experience. Throughout the information sessions, we agreed that, first and foremost, a policy tailored to the National Assembly context should serve as a tool for prevention and providing information, not just as a means of resolving situations involving harassment.

From the outset, the Working Group had to keep certain realities in mind to guide us throughout the policy development process. Our starting point was the principle that the parliamentarians themselves entrenched in Quebec legislation in 2004, namely that "Every employee has a right to a work environment free from psychological harassment". (4) This underscores employers' responsibility to "take reasonable action to prevent psychological harassment and, whenever they become aware of such behaviour, to put a stop to it." (5) Our Policy adopted in June 2015 is based on the will of all MNAs and the National Assembly administration, as employers in their own right, to ensure...