Quote:
Originally Posted by bigjantailor
This is an excerpt from a yet to be tabled piece of legislation with a definition of bullying form Worksafe BC in Canada where workplace stress (including bullying) is now compensable:
Definition
“bullying and harassment”
(a) includes any inappropriate vexatious conduct or comment by a person towards a worker that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would cause that worker to be humiliated, offended or intimidated, but
(b) excludes any reasonable action taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management and direction of workers or the place of employment
It could be possible to say that if you write for a living and work for a company that pays its dues to WorksafeBC you could make a claim that 'vexatious comment by a person' in the form of a review or a few reviews could cause you stress enough to make a claim and take time off work.
Have fun, Jan
|
Jan I don't agree with your assessment.
If an author publishes, or otherwise distributes their work in the public domain, then they ought to expect 'criticism' about their work.
Critiquing a book, (or work of art or musical score etc) and an author's (or creator's) style, is customary practice, and has been since? (Maybe since books or musings were first given to others to consider, in whatever form was prevalent in that day - certainly there was always debate over the ancient philosophers teachings, by their students and others.)
Should an author, or their representative, consider that a criticism is not valid because it slurs in some way the character of the author, then legal recourse is available via the courts for offences such as slander, etc.
I note you say that the above are proposed legislative excerpts, and as a lay person reading those (and not seeing the rest of the document) I get the strong impression that as the clauses stand at the moment they are too broad in their interpretation and may not end up being the clauses that are accepted, agreed upon and assented to by the Parliament. (But hey, what do I know in this situation - diddly squat, eh!!)
Also - re an author claiming workers compensation ..... an author is generally self employed in status, even if they are on a 'contract' aren't they.
That means that they are not employees and would not fall within the ambit of the legislation.