Practice Area: Human Rights

Human Rights Update 2015

Materials Agenda With human rights-related litigation and Applications at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario on the rise, employers and service providers alike must be prepared to address and manage these increasingly complex and critical issues within their organizations. From harassment and accommodation, to attendance management and benefits, human rights issues can impact a broad…

Workplace Investigation Training

Agenda This workshop focuses on essential investigation skills required by HR Professionals who are charged with investigating workplace incidents. Following instructional components, attendees will work, in small groups, through case scenarios designed to highlight strategies which can be used to deal with issues that can arise when conducting investigations. Attendance at this session will include…

Webcast: Coping with Violent Behaviours in the Classroom: Safety Issues for Staff and other Students in the Special Education Context

Complimentary This webcast responds to a number of requests following our last webcast, After Keewatin: The Use of Exclusions, and reflects the reality that there are increasing numbers of students whose disabilities give rise to violent outbursts and that this phenomenon is a growing challenge for special educators and for administration. We will review the…

The HRTO and the Duty to Accommodate: How Far Does an Employer Have to Go?

· 4 min read

In a helpful decision for employers, Pourasadi v. Bentley Leathers, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) found that an employer’s duty to accommodate did not extend to altering the essential duties of a position. In this case, the Applicant, a retail store manager, requested a workplace accommodation for a wrist injury which prevented her…

Supreme Court of Canada On Pregnancy and Parental Leave Top-Ups

· 5 min read

The Supreme Court of Canada recently upheld a decision of a British Columbia arbitrator which had found that denying birth mothers entitlement to parental supplemental employment (“SEB” or “top-up”) benefits where they had received pregnancy SEB plan benefits was discriminatory. The issue before the arbitrator turned on an interpretation of the collective agreement in place…

Ontario Releases Action Plan to Stop Sexual Violence and Harassment

· 2 min read

On March 6, 2015, the Ontario government published It’s Never Okay: An Action Plan to Stop Sexual Violence and Harassment, a targeted action plan (“Plan”) to address sexual violence and harassment in Ontario, in part through significant legislative reforms and sector-specific training initiatives. Among other things, the Plan will target sexual violence and harassment in…

Ontario Publishes Review of AODA and Recommendations

· 1 min read

On February 13, 2015, the Ontario government published a report on the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (“AODA”) by Mayo Moran, Provost and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College at the University of Toronto. The report constitutes the second legislative review of the AODA, and outlines her recommendations to the government, which include: renewal of…

City Did Not Breach Duty to Accommodate When it Declined Firefighters’ Request for Exception to Mandatory Retirement Policy

· 6 min read

In a recent decision, Corrigan v. Corporation of the City of Mississauga [1], the Divisional Court dismissed an application for judicial review of a decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (the “Tribunal”), which found that the City of Mississauga did not breach its procedural duty to accommodate when it declined to accommodate suppression…