Discrimination and Harassment Under the BC Human Rights Code. (a) Purpose The Employer will, in cooperation with the Union, promote a work environment that is free from harassment and discrimination where all employees are treated with respect and dignity. Discrimination and harassment relates to any of the prohibited grounds contained in the BC Human Rights Code. Prohibited conduct may be verbal, non-verbal, physical, deliberate or unintended, unsolicited or unwelcome, as determined by a reasonable person. It may be one incident or a series of incidents depending on the context. Employees have the right to employment without discrimination or harassment because of race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, family status, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, sex, age, sexual orientation, political beliefs and criminal or summary offence unrelated to their employment. Harassment shall be defined as a course of conduct directed at a specific person that causes substantial distress and may include, but is not limited to, threats or intimidation, physical or sexual assault, deliberate gestures, comments, questions, innuendo, representations or other behaviour, jokes or slurs, or displays of offensive material, the consequence of which is the humiliation, alarm and/or abuse of another person. Harassment can also include inappropriate or unwelcome focus or comments on a person's physical characteristics or appearance. Harassment does not include actions occasioned through exercising in good faith the Employer's managerial/supervisory rights and responsibilities. Protection against harassment extends to incidents occurring at or away from the workplace during or outside working hours (i.e. social functions, conferences, training sessions, travel, over the telephone) provided the acts are committed within the course of the employment relationship. This clause does not preclude an employee from filing a complaint under the BC Human Rights Code; however, an employee shall not be entitled to duplication of process. An employee making a complaint of harassment must choose to direct a complaint to either the BC Human Rights Tribunal or to the process specified in this agreement. In either event a complaint of harassment shall not form the basis of a grievance. An employee who files a written complaint which would be seen by a reasonable person to be frivolous, vindictive or vexatious may be subject to disciplinary action. Disciplinary action taken may be grieved pursuant to Article 8 - Grievances.
