The magnitude and complexity of expressions of workplace violence also involve the legal system, whose decisions establish boundaries between the problems and needs linked to various trends of violence in an organizational context. The institutions in charge of regulating workplaces in the exercise of rights and responsibilities are increasingly called upon to make decisions concerning the phenomenon of workplace violence. In some regions around the world, legal authorities have begun, as a first step, to act in response to the great change in mentality regarding family violence, a phenomenon which is increasingly drawing attention.

In various countries, even where laws regulating occupational health and safety do not deal explicitly with violence in the context of the workplace, governments consider that these laws compel the employer to make sure that such violence does not occur.

In the United Kingdom, the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 has made any behaviour comparable to harassment an offence http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/1997040.htm. Even though this legislation is not specific to workplace violence, its application covers harassment perpetrated in the workplace as well as in other social contexts. In France, the Loi du 17 janvier 2002, or the Loi de modernisation sociale (social modernization law), criminalizes the behaviours involved in moral harassment in the workplace and distinguishes this kind of harassment from workplace discrimination. Also in Europe, the Loi sur le bien-être des travailleurs dans l'exécution de leur travail (law on the well-being of workers carrying out their work) came into force in Belgium on June 25, 2002 http://www.securisan.be/LOIS/Loi 19960804 bienetre.htm. This law includes provisions which are specific to moral harassment in the prevention of problems related to occupational health and safety.

In the United States, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act http://www.epa.gov/reg5oopa/defs/html/osha.htm, as well as similar laws in each state, require employers to provide their employees with a workplace which is free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm. At least 15 American states recognize as tort on the part of the employer the fact of not taking reasonable precautions during recruitment to check the background of people who could represent a danger to other workers or the public. The employer's duty to take precautions and gather intraining, however, must be balanced against the right to privacy and to non-discriminating hiring practices.

In Canada

Chapter 42, among others, of the Canada Labour Code http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en (see Canada Labour Code) requires the employer, through consultation with occupational health and safety committees, to make sure that solutions are developed to protect employees who work alone from the risks that come with the social isolation inherent in the nature of their work.

In Quebec

The diversity and plurality of all the avenues of legal recourse make them more complex for victims.

Civil Code of Quebec and charters of rights

• Sections 4 (the right to safeguard one's dignity, honour and reputation) and 46 (the right to fair and reasonable conditions of employment) of the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and article 2087 of the Civil Code of Quebec (the obligation to protect the health, safety and dignity of employees) will increasingly be used in the arbitration of grievances concerning moral harassment in the workplace, under Bill 143 amending the Act respecting Labour Standards.
• Section 4 of the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms is a provision which establishes a standard of quality of life at work centred on human dignity.
• Sections 4 and 46 of the Québec Charter and article 2087 of the Civil Code of Quebec include the duty to set up and maintain a working environment based on respect and civility (mutual respect or the fight against incivility). Harassment and attacks on dignity are referred to arbitration tribunals, even in the case where the collective agreement is silent in this regard.
• Sections 10 and 15 of the Québec and Canadian Charters of Human Rights and Freedoms, respectively, imply that moral harassment is discriminatory if it is based on one of the grounds stipulated in these charters (racism, sexism, heterosexism [homophobia, lesbophobia], agism, or political or religious beliefs). The situation in Quebec thus differs from that laid out by labour laws in France, where moral harassment is not dealt with in the same way as discriminatory harassment in the workplace. 

Act respecting labour standards

• As of June 1, 2004, amendments to the Act respecting labour standards (Bill 143) deal with rights, obligations, courses of action and means of preventing psychological harassment. These amendments explain that cases of sexual harassment are now legally included in the interpretation and application of new provisions concerning psychological harassment in the workplace. In practice, however, while some cases of psychological harassment are extended or made more complex by sexual harassment, it is important to understand that this definition of violence in the workplace is not involved in all cases of psychological harassment.
  
  Moreover, as the focus of this site is occupational health and safety, it should be pointed out that the parts of legislation, case law and legal action relating to the prevention of psychological harassment in the workplace fall under the Commission des normes du travail (labour standards commission).

Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases

• Physical or mental employment injuries that can be attributed to violence are usually accepted under the definition of an industrial accident (section 2 of the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases) or as unforeseen and sudden events caused by or occurring at work. Federal undertakings which have establishments in Quebec are usually subject to the provisions of this Act but the constitutional debate on this subject is not yet settled.

Canadian Criminal Code

• This legistation also covers Quebec and deals specifically with criminal harassment (stalking) (section 264), sabotage, (s. 52 ), assault (s. 265), sexual assault (s. 271), mischief or vandalism (s. 430), robbery (involving physical force, with or without a weapon) (s. 344), extortion (s. 346), and murder (s. 231). These criminal offences are mostly connected to external workplace violence. Canadian Criminal Code.