Duty to Accommodate

Overall focus on expectations that employers should have for themselves when accommodating applicants, employees or third parties. Includes best practices, case law examples; addresses mental health and addiction; family status. 

Canvesses the law on medical information disclosure requirements. Discusses how adjudicators seek to balance the employee’s right to privacy with the employer’s right to manage the workplace, maintain safety, and expect a certain level of performance. The article reviews the employee’s obligation to disclose medical information for the employer to assess the employees fitness to work or to assess reasonable accommodations or as necessary for hearing and what type of information may be requested. Discusses the employees right to refuse disclosure and the consequences.

Duties and Responsibilities in the Accommodation Process. Reviews the parties duties in the accommodation process. 

An overview of mental illness and episodic disabilities in the workplace; review of employer responsibility to accommodate, privacy issues and medical disclosure; interesting case-law principles summarized. 

Uses an analysis of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and the main principles of accessibility and the means of reasonable accommodation - the extent to which they are used to protect the human rights of disabled persons in the workplace depends on whether, and to what degree, the state and its workforce embraces the CRPD's values. However, civil society does not have this same obligation, but have a right to participate in the process of designing an inclusive work environment. 

Guide for stakeholders, lawyers and human resource professionals to appropriately handle disability issues in the workplace; explains advancing/defending claims, common law/human rights concerns, and remedies. 

The article discusses how the Canadian Armed Forces are exempt by the Canadian Human Rights Code, based on the principle of universality of service, from having to accommodate disabled members, there for being able to terminate them based on medical reasons. This means the Forces are allowed to engage in prima facia discrimination. The universality of service principal is a bona fide occupational requirement. The article argues that the universality principle is not reasonably necessary. 

Differentiates 'stress' in a workplace context, outlines accommodations for stress, non-evident disabilities; how do identify stress; employer's perspective and appropriate measures; union involvement; application of 'Holmes-Rahe' Life Stress Inventory. 

Outlines a general process for managers in the public sector; working for the Government of Canada and what it means to uphold the duty to accommodate; review of legislation and prohibited grounds of discrimination; Canadian Human Rights Act. 

Discussion of Pourasadi v Bentley Leathers decision of the HRTO, in which employer's duty to accommodate did not extend to permanently altering the essential duties of the position, or to assigning the essential duties to other employees; physical restrictions in the workplace.