When Collective Agreements Lead the Way: A New Domestic Violence Provision in Ontario Hospitals

A newly released interest arbitration award has introduced a domestic violence article into the collective agreements covering clerical and service staff at 32 Ontario hospitals. The language is significant not only for what it commits employers to do, but for how it reframes domestic violence as a workplace issue grounded in occupational health and safety, accommodation, and cultural safety.

The New Collective Agreement Language on Domestic Violence

The article recognizes that domestic violence — including intimate partner violence, child abuse, and sexual violence — can manifest in the workplace in many forms, including:

• disruptive phone calls

• harassing emails

• threats

• inappropriate visits

• violent confrontations

• violent offences between current or former partners, regardless of cohabitation

Crucially, the article goes on to expressly link this reality to the employer’s statutory duties under section 32.0.4 of Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA):

Hospitals who are aware of, or who ought reasonably to be aware of, domestic violence that would likely expose an employee to physical injury in the workplace must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect the employee.

Where an employee advises that they are suffering from or fear domestic violence — or where the hospital is aware or ought reasonably to be aware — the employer is required to offer supports that may include:

• work accommodations to schedules or duties

• safety planning

• training

• referrals and protections

• risk assessments

• health care benefits

• support in reporting to law enforcement or regulated colleges

• job-protected leaves under the Employment Standards Act, 2000

• and other appropriate supports

Why This Matters: Three Key Implications

1. These Commitments Are Now Enforceable

Many employers say they will support employees experiencing IPV. Far fewer have systems in place to actually do so.

By embedding these obligations directly into the collective agreement, the employer is legally bound to follow through. Accommodations, safety planning, and risk assessments are no longer aspirational — they are enforceable terms of employment.

This matters because, in practice, these are precisely the steps that too often fall through the cracks.

2. The Language Itself Creates Cultural Safety

The opening paragraph of this article does something critically important: it demonstrates that the employer understands how domestic violence shows up at work.

That matters.

Employees are far more likely to disclose — and to do so earlier — when they believe their employer “gets it.”

This is what we mean by cultural safety: reducing stigma, naming reality, and signaling that disclosure will be met with competence rather than confusion or disbelief.

Cultural safety is not a “soft” concept. It is foundational to catching IPV upstream, before risk escalates.

3. The “Ought Reasonably to Be Aware” Standard Is Expanded

Perhaps the most consequential aspect of this provision is how it extends the employer’s duty to act.

The OHSA already requires employers to take precautions where they are aware — or ought reasonably to be aware — of domestic violence that could expose a worker to physical injury. This article reinforces that obligation and subtly raises the bar.

Notably, the final paragraph does not limit action to situations involving explicit physical violence. Given how the article is framed, the standard of when an employer ought to be aware will likely be measured against the knowledge and practices of a GBV- and IPV-informed employer.

In other words, ignorance becomes harder to defend.

A Signal to the Broader Labour Market

This provision was introduced through an interest arbitration award — a process used when parties are prohibited from striking and an arbitrator resolves bargaining disputes by selecting among proposals.

One of the guiding principles in interest arbitration is comparability: what similar employers are doing in the market.

That means this language is unlikely to remain confined to these 32 hospitals. It sets a benchmark — one that other unions and employers will point to in future bargaining.

Credit Where It’s Due

Credit is owed to SEIU for advancing this provision, and to Arbitrator Bill Kaplan for including it in the award, despite dissents from the other panel members. Whether those dissents focused on this clause or not, the outcome represents a meaningful step forward.

What Employers Should Take From This

You do not need to wait for collective bargaining — or an arbitrator — to tell you what best practice looks like.

This article reflects where workplace law, occupational health and safety, and human rights obligations are already heading. Employers who proactively build trauma- and violence-informed IPV programs will be better positioned to:

• meet their legal duties

• reduce workplace risk

• support employees earlier

• and avoid being measured retroactively against a standard they failed to meet

If you’re an employer wondering what a legally sound, trauma-informed workplace IPV framework looks like, this collective agreement provision is a strong place to start. And if you're looking for support on embedding this into your workplace, please reach out. I'd love to work with you.

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Full text of new article:

"The parties recognize that domestic violence, which may include intimate partner violence, child abuse or sexual violence, is a serious issue that can manifest in various ways, including but not limited to, disruptive phone calls, harassing emails, threats, inappropriate visits, violent confrontations, violent offences between current and/or former partners, regardless of cohabitation.

Hospitals who are aware of, or who ought reasonably to be aware of, domestic violence that would likely expose an employee to physical injury in the workplace must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect the employee (OHSA section 32.0.4).

Where an employee has advised that they are suffering from or in fear of domestic violence, or child abuse or the Hospital is aware or ought reasonably to be aware, they will be offered supports and services that may include but are not limited to, work accommodations to schedules or duties, safety planning, training, referrals and protections, risk assessment, and/or health care benefits, support in reporting to law enforcement and/or regulated colleges, and leaves (including job protected leaves as per the Employment Standards Act, 2000); and other supports, as appropriate."