Increasingly, Canadian employers face new and challenging requests for accommodation based on a variety of grounds including disability, religion/creed, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, sex, and family status, etc. Understanding when the duty to accommodate is triggered and how far it extends can be challenging for even the most seasoned HR leader and employer.

Join this practical, half-day workshop to build your knowledge and acquire tools to confidently assess and respond to a request for accommodation in the workplace. Topics include:

1. Duty to Accommodate under Human Rights

• What constitutes discrimination?
• When does an employer reach the undue hardship threshold?
• Procedural and substantive duty to accommodate

2. Select Issues in Accommodation

• The employer’s duty to inquire
• Employer and employee responsibilities in accommodation
• Physical and mental disability; how to obtain useful medical information?
• Specific protected grounds, including family status, religion, and gender expression

3. Discipline and Termination in the Accommodation Context

• What is a “bona fide occupational requirement”?
• How to discipline an employee on an accommodation
• Frustration of contract and termination when an employee is on leave
• Terminating employment of an accommodated employee