Employers

Workplace harassment

In the context of WorkplaceNL’s coverage, workplace harassment involves aggressive, intimidating or discriminatory conduct by a person against a worker that adversely affects the worker’s psychological health and safety. Workplace harassment may involve repeated conduct or comments, or a single serious occurrence. 

WorkplaceNL may cover psychological injuries resulting from workplace harassment when: 

• The injury happens on the job. 

• The harassment involves aggressive, intimidating or discriminatory behaviour that harmed the worker’s psychological health and safety.  

• A regulated health care professional (physician, nurse practitioner, psychologist or psychiatrist) diagnoses a psychological injury supported by medical evidence and follows the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). 

Some behaviours that may indicate workplace harassment: 

• Verbal aggression 

• Vandalizing personal belongings 

• Sabotaging work 

• Spreading gossip or rumors 

• Hazing or humiliating rituals 

• Threats or personal attacks about someone’s private life or personal characteristics 

• Inappropriate sexual conduct 

Traumatic event(s)

A traumatic event may be a result of witnessing or being the victim of a criminal act or a horrific incident. Traumatic events may have elements of actual or potential violence.  

The event(s) must arise out of and occur in the course of employment, and be: 

• Clearly and precisely identifiable, and 

• Objectively traumatic.  

Examples of traumatic event(s) include, but are not limited to: 

• Witnessing a fatality; 

• Being the victim of an armed robbery or hostage-taking; 

• Being subjected to physical violence; and
• Being subjected to threats of physical violence, where there is reason to believe the threat is serious. 

WorkplaceNL generally does not cover psychological injury due to day-to-day pressures that are part of normal work relationships or management decisions. Examples include: 

• Expressing different opinions 

• Making a valid complaint through proper processes (e.g., labour relations) 

• Changing duties, working conditions or hours 

• Expecting workers to meet performance targets or deadlines 

• Firing, laying off, transferring, promoting or reorganizing workers 

• Disciplining, supervising or giving feedback about performance 

Psychological injuries can also be caused by things that happen outside of work. WorkplaceNL does not cover injuries that are not caused by work. Even if the injury is not covered, there are community supports that may help a worker recover. Click here to learn more. 

By law, employers must have a written harassment prevention plan. If you learn of harassment in your workplace, follow your plan to report and investigate it. 

Complete a Form 7, Employer’s Report of Injury (online via connect) if your worker reports a work-related psychological injury that results in any of the following: 

• Medical attention  

• Loss of earnings 

• Lost-time from work

Staying connected to work – when it’s safe – is an important part of recovery. That is why we will start the conversation about returning to work early. Staying at work during recovery does not affect whether a workers’ claim is approved.  

Once the claim is opened, an intake adjudicator may contact the employer and the worker to get more details and decide if the worker’s injury is covered. As there may be a lot of information to review, decisions about psychological injury claims often take longer than other claims. Both the worker and the employer will receive a copy of the decision letter.

In addition to the Form 7, Employer’s Report of Injury (which you can complete online through connect), an intake adjudicator may ask for: 

• A detailed description of the events that led to the injury 

• A timeline of events 

• Your internal safety or human resources reports or processes related to the injury 

• Information about the workers’ job description, job demands or employment agreement 

• Any documented complaints or investigation reports from the employer, police or Occupational Health and Safety Division 

Everyone at work shares responsibility for health, safety and well-being. Employers must protect workers’ health, safety and welfare, and workers have a right to a safe and healthy workplace.   

Here are some ways to prevent psychological injuries in your workplace: 

• Create a workplace where workers feel safe, supported and respected.  

• Include workers in the process so they feel involved and buy-in.  

• Start with a risk assessment to find and address psychosocial hazards (for example: certain tasks, the work setting or situations that could cause psychological harm). 

• Manage psychological hazards in the same way you manage physical hazards, as part of your occupational health and safety program.   

• Set clear expectations for workers and leaders to prevent psychological harm, and communicate these expectations through orientation or training. 

• Encourage work-life balance. 

For step-by-step help, check our Psychological Health and Safety Roadmap. 

If you have questions about submitting a claim for a psychological injury due to workplace harassment, call a WorkplaceNL Entitlement Team Lead at 1.800.563.9000.

If you have questions about developing programs to prevent psychological injuries, workplace violence or harassment, contact Prevention Services at [email protected] or 709.778.1552.

A psychologically healthy and safe workplace promotes workers’ psychological well-being and actively works to prevent harm to workers’ psychological health.

Employers have duties under occupational health and safety laws to provide a safe workplace. This includes finding risks at work (doing a risk assessment) and taking steps to control them.

Workers must not use violence or harass others. If something happens, workers should tell their supervisor or employer right away.  

To prevent workplace harassment, employers must have a Harassment Prevention Plan. Check out our Workplace Violence and Harassment Due Diligence Checklist to help you put your plan in place.

WorkplaceNL offers many resources to help you get started – see the Psychological Health and Safety section of our website.

Many organizations also offer free resources, including:

• Canada Life has a variety of free resources related to mental health.
• The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has a voluntary national standard for psychological health and safety in the workplace
• The Mental Health Commission of Canada has multiple resources including a handbook, which is designed as a step-by-step guide for organizations to implement the CSA Standard 
• Guarding Minds at Work is a comprehensive resource to help assess and address psychological health and safety in your workplace.