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Serious insight for serious situations.

Serious insight for serious situations.

The Role of Support Persons in Promoting Culturally Safe Workplace Investigations

In Canada, an individual subject to a legal process such as a hearing or trial can request an accommodation connected to a human rights-related ground such as a disability. One common accommodation request is for permission to be accompanied by a support person for assistance, as this allows for meaningful participation in the process.

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Five respect at work rules for the remote workplace

I find it amazing what we, as human beings, have had to do in the last week to adapt to the realities of living with COVID-19. I am so impressed, for example, by how some small businesses have been able to quickly change how they deliver their goods and services so that they can survive and how customers have embraced and supported this. I am equally impressed that office employees have rolled up their sleeves and found new ways to communicate with one another to “get the job done” and that offices with hundreds of workers are able to operate remotely.

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No more clarity on family status

A recent decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) has created further confusion on the duty to accommodate as it relates to discrimination on the basis of family status. Family Status – A (brief) History Historically, there have been multiple (and conflicting) lines of cases on the test to be applied in cases

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Blog with a Dog (and the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal)

We hope that most employers are familiar with their substantive obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code (the “OHRC”). However, I have found that employers can overlook a “hidden” provision in the OHRC which imposes liability on them not only for the discriminatory actions of their controlling minds and/or senior employees, but also for those

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#2 Mental health or physical disabilities that deal with the duty to accommodate

Mastering the ins and outs of the duty to accommodate under human rights legislation is hard. In fact, some would go so far as to say impossible. It’s no wonder this topic has floated to the top of the list of challenges faced by HR practitioners. I’ve given this some thought and come up with

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Understanding creed

Recently, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released its Policy on preventing discrimination based on creed, updating their previous creed-related policy from 1996. Like other recent Commission policies on topics such as gender identity/expression and family status, the Policy provides clarity on the definition of the ground, while also providing guidance for employers on specific situations

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Abstinence is best?

The people who ran the Northern Lights Manor (the “Manor”), a personal care home in Flin Flon, Manitoba, certainly thought so.  However, their steadfast belief in this approach to dealing with alcohol addiction has now led to a very costly legal decision against the Manor. Linda Horrocks worked at the Manor as a health care

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Failure to disclose addiction pursuant to company policy justifies employee dismissal

Supporting an employee coping with an addiction is a challenging workplace issue particularly where human rights legislation requires accommodation of employees facing addiction and dependency. But what happens when the employee denies having an addiction and it can or does affect the core duties of the employee? That’s precisely the circumstance that Elk Valley Coal

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