On September 8, 2016, Bill 132, the Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act (Supporting Survivors and Challenging Sexual Violence and Harassment), 2016 came into effect in Ontario. Bill 132 enhanced employee protections against workplace harassment by:

• Adding “sexual harassment” to the definition of harassment
• Obligating employers to:
  • investigate all incidents and complaints of workplace harassment, as appropriate in the circumstances
  • create a workplace harassment policy and program
  • report back to a worker who allegedly experienced harassment and the alleged harasser after a workplace investigation with the investigation findings, and any resulting corrective action
• Enabling the Ministry of Labour to mandate third-party investigations where an employer has failed to investigate or failed to conduct an investigation that is appropriate in the circumstances