Insights

Reaching Out

Recent Legislative and Case Law Developments

· 15 min read
By: Sean M. Reginio, Jamie Burns, Labiba Chowdhury, Jordynne Hislop, Charles V. Hofley, Siobhan M. O’Brien, Shauna Bartlett, Lavan Narenthiran

Dear Friends, We are back with another edition of Reaching Out. While we are still dealing with issues arising from the pandemic, there are a number of developments in legislation and case law which we wanted to bring to the attention of social services organizations. Sean Reginio discusses the duty to accommodate employees and the…

Case In Point

Ontario Divisional Court Finds Group Living Home Did Not Discriminate Against Disabled Resident by Enforcing a No Visitor Policy During the COVID-19 Outbreak

· 7 min read
By: Charles V. Hofley, Siobhan M. O’Brien, Shauna Bartlett

On September 22, 2022, the Ontario Divisional Court (Court) released Empower Simcoe v. JL, in which the Court set aside decisions of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (Tribunal). The Court held that Empower Simcoe’s COVID-19 visitor policy (Policy), which temporarily limited visits to essential personnel and was later updated to allow outdoor family visits…

FTR Now

Significant Staffing and Deployment Flexibility Provided to Developmental Services Agencies to Alleviate the Effects of COVID-19

· 5 min read
By: Daniel B. Fogel, Vincent M. Panetta, Charles V. Hofley

On April 3, 2020, the Ontario government issued an order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA) that applies to service agencies which provide services and supports to adults with developmental disabilities. Under the terms of the order, service agencies shall and are authorized to take, with respect to staffing and work deployment, any reasonably necessary measures to respond to, prevent and alleviate the outbreak of COVID-19.