Quebec Prevention Policy Governance: Mandatory Workplace Harassment Frameworks

Editorial hold — human review pending.

Country: Canada. Research snapshot: 2026-10-20. Source / development date: 2024-03-27.

Unresolved verification flags

Bill 42 has phased commencement provisions. Check the enacted text, relevant commencement dates, later amendments and Quebec-only scope before assigning a particular obligation or deadline.

Resolve these limitations and the article-specific legal checklist before approval. This draft is educational information, not legal advice.

Canada. Development date: 27 March 2024. Research snapshot: 20 October 2026.

With the passage of Bill 42, Quebec established detailed statutory parameters governing organizational policies on psychological harassment and sexual violence [source: launch-source-19]. Codified through amendments to the Act respecting labour standards and the Act respecting occupational health and safety, these measures elevate prevention governance from general policy statements into highly structured, mandatory workplace protocols [source: launch-source-19].

Broadened Scope of Employer Prevention Duties

Prior statutory regimes required employers to take reasonable action to prevent and stop psychological harassment. Bill 42 amended section 81.19 of the Act respecting labour standards to state explicitly that an employer’s prevention obligations apply to harassment originating "from any person" in the work environment [source: launch-source-19]. This adjustment confirms that organizational governance must address potential harassment committed not only by colleagues or supervisors, but also by third parties, such as clients, contractors, or members of the public.

Furthermore, the definition of sexual violence introduced into section 1 of the Act respecting occupational health and safety encompasses any form of violence targeting sexuality or misconduct with sexual connotations, whether occurring once or repeatedly, explicitly including violence relating to sexual and gender diversity [source: launch-source-19]. Under amended sections 59 and 61.2, workplace psychosocial risks are defined to include risks related to sexual violence.

Seven Mandatory Content Pillars

Under amended section 81.19 of the Act respecting labour standards, an employer's policy to prevent and manage situations of psychological harassment must set out specific minimum content [source: launch-source-19]:

1. Risk identification and elimination: The specific methods and techniques used to identify, control, and eliminate risks of psychological harassment, including a dedicated section on verbal comments, actions, or gestures of a sexual nature.
2. Training programs: Specific information and training programs offered to employees and to individuals designated by the employer to manage complaints or reports.
3. Social activities: Recommendations on standards of behaviour to adopt when participating in work-related social activities.
4. Reporting procedures: Clear procedures for submitting complaints, reports, information, or documents to the employer, detailing the designated personnel and outlining the follow-up process.
5. Protection measures: Explicit protections for individuals targeted by harassment and those who cooperate in complaint or report processing.
6. Management and inquiry processes: The organizational process for managing harassment situations, including the formal procedures governing internal inquiries.
7. Confidentiality and document retention: Measures to safeguard the confidentiality of complaints, reports, and records, accompanied by a mandatory preservation period of at least two years for all documents generated or obtained during the management of a situation.

Additionally, the statute mandates that this policy form an integral part of the employer's health and safety prevention program or action plan [source: launch-source-19].

Governance Recommendations

Organizational leadership should treat compliance as an ongoing governance structure rather than a static administrative requirement. Leadership teams should consider reviewing existing codes of conduct to ensure work-related social events—such as client receptions or corporate retreats—are covered by clear behavioural recommendations. In a hypothetical governance review, an enterprise might designate independent intake personnel who receive specialized instruction on trauma-informed practices, ensuring complaint files are cataloged with strict access limits to meet the minimum two-year retention rule. These operational steps are practical recommendations to facilitate compliance rather than separate statutory directives.

Legal review required

This text is prepared for educational information only and does not constitute certified legal counsel. Legal review must verify the following items prior to publication or policy finalization: Verify the exact corporate application under Quebec labour standards; determine whether the enterprise must integrate the policy into an existing prevention program or action plan based on current employer threshold regulations; confirm that organizational policies incorporate all seven statutory pillars outlined in section 81.19; ensure that document archiving systems guarantee the mandatory minimum two-year preservation timeline; and check whether sector-specific decrees apply to the organization's workforce. Any uncertain or unsupported legal assertions must be resolved before publication.