Duty to Accommodate
Ontario court confirms that employee with "anger management issues" not disabled under Code
In Gulick v. Ottawa Police Service, 2012 ONSC 5536, the Ontario Superior court confirmed that an employee with "anger management issues" was not disabled for the purposes of the Ontario Human Rights Code and thus not entitled to accommodation.
Specifically, the court stated the following in this case, which involved the dismissal of a police officer:
[15] While the incident giving rise to the disciplinary hearing did involve
some consumption of alcohol and medications, the Hearing Officer found as a
fact that the incident was triggered by anger management issues with which the
applicant had been struggling for several years. The Hearing Officer found
that alcohol was, at most, an exacerbating factor. We are not aware of any
jurisprudence which has established that anger management issues will support a
finding of disability.
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"Accommodating Employees Who Have Made LTD Claims"
"Accommodating Employees Who Have Made LTD Claims" (undated) is the title of a paper written by Lauren M. Bernardi, at Bernardi Human Resources Law.
No free-standing duty to treat employee “fairly and with due respect for dignity" during accommodation process
In Emergency Health Services Commission v. Cassidy, 2011 BCSC 100, the BC Supreme Court ruled that there was no free-standing procedural obligation on an employer to treat an employee “fairly, and with due respect for his dignity" during the duty to accommodate process, the failure of which could ground an award of damages.
The BC Human Rights Tribunal had previously ruled in this case that while accommodating the employee's physical disability would have represented an undue hardship to the employer, the employer was still liable for damages to the employee for failing to treat him fairly and with due respect for his dignity during the duty to accommodate process.
The damages awarded by the Tribunal included an award of $22,500 for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect.
The Tribunal's decisions can be found here: read more »
Upcoming conferences on labour, employment, human rights, privacy, immigration, pensions & benefits law
The table below contains a comprehensive list of the upcoming workplace law (employment, labour, human rights, pensions, privacy and immigration) conferences in Canada in 2011. The full names of the service providers, and links to their sites, are at the bottom of the page.
The Top 10 Human Rights Cases in Canada
Lancaster House is continuing its "Top 10" theme for audioconferences. This time its an audioconference on March 3, 2011 addressing The Top 10 Human Rights Cases. The cases and the issues they address (quoted from Lancaster) are: read more »
Employer not required to hold corporate reorganization in abeyance pending resolution of employee's disability
Tutty v. Canada (Attorney General), 2011 FC 57
Postscript: Jennifer M. Shepherd and Gulu Punia at the Fasken Martineau office in Calgary have prepared the following summary of this decision: "Accommodation Does Not Prevent Corporate Reorganization" (February 1, 2011).
