A customized domestic violence policy generated specifically for your organization
- Get a comprehensive workplace domestic violence policy in less than 30 minutes
- Ready to use across Canada
- Save it as a PDF or to cut and paste a plain text version into a Word document to edit
How to Use the Policy Builder
This Policy Builder produces a customizable, comprehensive workplace domestic violence policy. Effective workplace policies are developed in partnership with workers and unions at every level. The Canada Labour Code requires every employer to “develop health and safety policies and programs in consultation with the policy committee or, if there is no policy committee, with the workplace committee or the health and safety representative.” This Policy Builder will provide employers and unions with a starting point.
You have two options for creating your policy. Both begin with a series of questions about your workplace. Once you answer these, the document will auto-populate to ensure that the name of your company or organization and other relevant information is included. Then you can choose to print out the comprehensive policy in its entirety, customized with your organization’s information. Or you may choose to review the policy template clause by clause and deselect clauses that are not specific to your workplace.
This policy template is evidence based and reflects best practice. We strongly recommend that it be adopted in its entirety and that you only make changes needed to reflect the specifics of your workplace. We do not endorse policies that exclude clauses for any reason other than that they refer to positions or departments that do not exist in your workplace.
Once you have completed your policy building exercise, you have the option to save it as a PDF or to cut and paste a plain text version into a Word document. The policy should be further developed by employees and their unions. Please review your policy for compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Before you begin to build your policy, please collect the following information about your organization:
- Are you sure you are a federally regulated business or organization?
- Is your workplace unionized?
- Unions representing employees
- Identify the designated position, department or work unit to whom employees will report domestic violence concerns:
- Position
- Department
- Violence Response Team
- Co-chairs of the joint health and safety committee
- Health and safety representative
- Other union representative. Please specify (i.e. women’s/ domestic violence/ advocate/social steward)
- Will your joint health and safety committee play a role in addressing situations of domestic violence?
- Does your workplace have security staff?
- Security staff phone number
- Employment Assistance Program (EAP) provider
COMPREHENSIVE CLAUSE BY CLAUSE