Harassment/Sexual Harassment

BCPSEA offers a variety of harassment training programs to assist school districts in the administration of Article E.2 of the Provincial Collective Agreement between the BC Teachers’ Federation and the BC Public School Employers’ Association.

These training programs are designed to provide districts with appropriately trained individuals in order to satisfy the requirements of the Provincial Collective Agreement, Article E.2 Harassment/Sexual Harassment and WorkSafe BC Bullying and Harassment. While these programs focus on the provisions of the teacher agreement, the concepts and skills are also useful to individuals with management responsibility for support staff.

An overview of each of the training programs follows the schedule set out below.

Workshops Offered

Online Awareness and Prevention of Harassment Training

BCPSEA offers the following e-learning opportunity.

Developed in conjunction with Open School BC, Awareness and Prevention of Harassment will provide participants with a better understanding of what harassment is, what actions and behaviours might be considered harassment, and what employees can do if they believe they’ve been harassed. This one-hour program, available only to BC public school employees, covers key harassment legislation and policy; it also includes sample scenarios, as well as a simulated harassment case in video format.

Awareness and Prevention of Harassment online can be accessed here

Investigating Allegations of Harassment

This 2-day session approaches the investigation of harassment complaints from a number of perspectives — the employer’s responsibilities under the collective agreement, WorkSafeBC and the BC Human Rights Code.

Significant focus is placed on skills development through interactive practice sessions that will prepare participants to conduct full and proper investigations, including avoiding common mistakes.  Critical areas of focus include assessing credibility, dealing with conflicting evidence or testimony, and finding ways to corroborate or refute allegations in the absence of witnesses and/or where the stories conflict.

This course will provide you with the ability to practice and evolve your skills to address and investigate allegations of workplace harassment.

In-person

When: TBD (9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.)
TBD (9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.)
Where: BC Public School Employers Association
300 - 2889 E. 12 Avenue, Vancouver
Cost: $575 + GST

Registration

Space is limited so please register early to avoid disappointment.  Please note that should there be insufficient enrollment to meet minimum requirements for a session, the workshop will be cancelled and registration fees will be refunded.

Register Now

Instructors

Alissa Perry
Director, Labour Relations, BCPSEA

Alissa Perry is a lawyer with experience representing employers at arbitration, providing strategic negotiation and grievance management advice, developing and delivering training, and managing investigations. Prior to joining BCPSEA, Alissa provided labour relations and human resource services with a similar employers' organization in healthcare, and a large organization located in Calgary. At BCPSEA, Alissa provides labour relations liaison advice and assistance to a group of school districts as well as contributing expertise and advice on a wide range of labour relations initiatives.

Suzanne Kennedy
Partner, Harris & Company, LLP

Suzanne has built a strong practice in access and privacy law. She advises both public and private sector employers on their responsibilities as they navigate the implications of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and other related legislation. Suzanne regularly provides one-on-one training to in-house privacy and access coordinators on responding to access requests, conducting internal investigations, and the use of internal system information.

In addition to privacy law, Suzanne has extensive experience in education and health law. Suzanne has represented various healthcare and educational professionals and organizations, providing advice in a range of areas including employment, professional regulatory proceedings and compliance, court and administrative tribunal proceedings, procurement, and contract negotiations.

Questions

If you have any questions concerning these training opportunities, please contact Donna Verones by e-mail at donnav@bcpsea.bc.ca or by phone at 604.730.4501.

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