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Employment Laws

In my experience, one of the more complicated situations with employment law to learn and understand is the duty to accommodate.  The central premise may seem simple but over the years I have learned about the breadth of situations that require an employer to accommodate and also just what the courts interpret as “undue hardship” on the employer.  I believe that many people, including many managers, do not understand the wide range of situations that apply to the Human Rights Commission and the Duty to Accommodate and just far an employer must go to accommodate an employee.
In Canada, each province has a Human Rights Commission and it is this government body that oversees employment accommodation infractions and issues.  The Ontario Human Rights code states:
“The principle of accommodation applies to all grounds of the Code, but accommodation issues in employment most often relate to the needs of:
·         employees with disabilities (disability)
·         older workers (age)
·         employees with religious needs (creed)
·         pregnant women (sex)
·         employees with caregiving responsibilities (family status).”  (OHRC, n.d.)

Because of the breadth of situations that fall under this law it is difficult to create a handbook or training manual that covers it in detail.  While I have learned “the hard way” by having actual situations of requests for accommodations from employees that I have needed to review with our Executive Director (and in a couple of cases the company lawyer), it is not the best way to learn (i.e., it can be very stressful).  But, having tangible real-life situations is a good learning tool and therefore I think the best way to train this concept and the law to managers and supervisors is to have a small class where the law and company policies are reviewed and then real life case scenarios are dissected and discussed or even role-played.  By doing this in small groups with open discussion format, many possible scenarios will be brought up by the attendees which can then be reviewed in addition to case studies that the HRM has prepared in advance.  In addition to understanding what is covered and what the duty to accommodate is, it is also important to review the concept of “undue hardship” which an employer needs to prove if they are denying an accommodation.  It might be worthwhile to have a lawyer who specializes in employment law present this to the managers to impress the need for documentation and proof that the accommodation would impose undue hardship on the company and other employees.  A lawyer would also have numerous examples to provide to help managers and supervisors understand the vastness that is covered by this law.

References
OHRC (n.d.).  Meeting the accommodation need of employees on the job.  Retrieved from http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/iv-human-rights-issues-all-stages-employment/8-meeting-accommodation-needs-employees-job

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