Workplace Dispute Management
Workplace Disputes
No need to lock horns and fight in the workplace when facing conflict, this is usually the worst kind of solution and will often result in having both employees fired.
In Ontario, workplace disputes between workers can be addressed through a range of internal workplace processes, any statutory complaint mechanisms, and ultimately civil claims, depending on whether the conduct is ordinary interpersonal conflict, harassment, discrimination, violence, or defamation-like misconduct.
For disputes between workers, the main legal options are:
- Internal informal resolution through management, HR, mediation, or a workplace conflict-management process.
- Workplace harassment/violence complaint procedures under the employer’s policy and the applicable occupational health and safety regime.
- Human rights complaints if the dispute involves harassment tied to a protected ground, such as sex, race, disability, or family status.
- Civil claims in appropriate cases, including intentional infliction of mental suffering where the conduct is extreme and provable harm results.
- Union/grievance procedures if the workplace is unionized.
- Police involvement where the facts amount to assault, threats, stalking, or other criminal conduct then the police should be called.
Internal informal resolution is usually the fastest, least adversarial way to address workplace conflict, but it is not a complete substitute for formal legal remedies when the conduct is excessive or serious, repeated, or tied to discrimination or violence. Its value is early intervention; its main weakness is that it depends on voluntary participation and may not create enforceable outcomes. This
Mediation
Mediation is a voluntary and confidential process that can help parties settle a dispute with a neutral mediator. Invictus Legal LLP has mediators on staff that can assist with any of your mediation requirements. This can ensure a speedy resolution to the dispute. The desire being that conflicts can be addressed before they escalate and consume managerial or legal resources. The process can avoid the expense of investigations, hearings, grievances, or litigation. The selected solutions can be tailored to fit the people and workplace dynamics involved, perhaps one of the workers can take a transfer to another workplace owned by the employer.
One key factor about mediation is confidetiality. when the parties involved make an agreement then a non-disclosure agreement is made.
Remember however that mediation generally cannot go ahead unless both the parties agree, so one unwilling participant can block a potential resolution.
Union or Non-Union
When a workplace is unionized then there often different procedures becuase the union is involved in the grievance procedure. Also the union will seek to reduce the conflict within its own ranks.
Most non-unions workplaces do not have the same level of protection for workers. That said, Occupational Health and Safety laws apply to all workers and this covers many aspects of harassment or bullying in the workplace.
There are also differences whther yours is a federally regulated or provincially regulated workplace.
Human Rights complaints
If the dispute between workers involves harassment because of a protected characteristic. The Ontario Human Rights Code gives the employee a statutory right to freedom from harassment in the workplace. The relevant provision states:
Every person who is an employee has a right to freedom from harassment in the workplace by the employer or agent of the employer or by another employee because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, age, record of offences, marital status, family status or disability.
The Code also protects against harassment because of sex in the workplace.
Occupational Health and Safety
Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act defines:
- workplace harassment as a course of vexatious comment or conduct that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome, and
- workplace violence broadly, including actual force, attempted force, and threats of force.
That makes the OHSA a key route where the issue is not simply personality conflict, but conduct that is unwelcome, repeated, threatening, or violent.
Take a look at our Spin Legal video from May 2026.
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