Teaching at Western: A New Course on Intimate Partner Violence and Employment Law

This fall I am teaching EDUC6015: Intersection of Intimate Partner Violence and Employment Law: Recognizing the Duty and Responding to Survivors at Western University's Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children.

The course runs online over four Tuesday afternoons, from November 17 to December 8, 2026. It is an elective in CREVAWC's Gender Based Violence Practice Skills Certificate Programme.

It is built for the people who actually get the phone call about IPV at work. HR and labour relations staff. Managers. Union representatives. Employment lawyers who advise them.

Registration is open now.

Why this course, and why now

We have a societal problem in which IPV continues to be treated as a private matter. It's something an employer might feel sympathy about but practically has no role in.

But as I've been saying for a while, that position is legally indefensible and exposes the organization to risk.

Ontario employers have had duties under section 32.0.4 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act since 2010. If an employer becomes aware, or ought reasonably to be aware, that domestic violence may expose a worker to physical injury in the workplace, the employer must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances. Employment standards legislation across the country now provides leave for survivors. Human rights tribunals are increasingly willing to treat IPV survivorship as connected to protected grounds. Courts are recognizing new avenues of accountability.

So the legal duty exists. The problem is that almost nobody has been taught what to do with it. And this course aims to fix that.

What we will cover

Over four classes, we will work through five areas.

1. Recognizing the trigger. We will look at the warning signs and risk indicators that activate an employer's legal duty to act. That includes indicators with no prior physical violence attached to them.

2. Mapping the duties. Once IPV enters the workplace, it does not trigger one obligation. It triggers a cluster. Occupational health and safety, human rights, employment standards, privacy, and, in some circumstances, child protection reporting. We will sort out which duty attaches when, and where each one belongs in workplace policy.

3. Risk assessment and safety planning. We will walk through how to conduct a workplace risk assessment and turn it into a survivor-led safety plan. That includes coordinating with external service providers and knowing what to do if the survivor declines to participate.

4. The first conversation. In the third class, a trained actor will join us so participants can practise that first meeting with a survivor at work.

5. Building the program. Finally, we will map the components of a comprehensive workplace IPV program and identify the earliest points of intervention.

Come and dig into this with me

I am grateful to CREVAWC and to Western for making space for this work, and for building a certificate program that treats gender-based violence as a practice skill rather than an awareness topic.

If you have ever wondered what you are actually supposed to do when IPV surfaces at work, this is the room for that question.

Register for EDUC6015 through Western Continuing Studies

Bring this work into your organization

If your organization needs more than a course, that is what I do. I help employers build workplace IPV programs, review policy, and train managers and HR teams to meet these obligations with confidence.

Book a strategic advisory session

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