If an employer is found guilty of discrimination, there are many different remedies which may be awarded to the person who received the discrimination. They may receive damages in the form of money.
An employer may be asked to develop policies and training that seek to remedy the discrimination. An employer may also be asked to award back pay to the employee. A complaint at the Human Rights Tribunal typically takes around 1 year to conclude; however, oftentimes matters can settle at mediation or through settlements well before the one-year mark.
There are 16 protected grounds in the Ontario Human Rights Code on which one cannot be discriminated against. Some examples include age, gender, disability, ethnic origin. These protected grounds are mimicked as well at the Canadian Human Rights Act, which is the federal equivalent of the Ontario Human Rights Code. What are some common defences to discrimination allegations? One common defense to an allegation of discrimination is that reasonable accommodations were made by the employer to try to accommodate the employee.
The duty to accommodate is a duty which is incumbent on an employer to accommodate up to the point of undue hardship an employee. In order to allow that employee to perform the essential duties of their occupation. An employer’s duty as it relates to the duty to accommodate is to provide all reasonable accommodations that an employee may need in order to allow them to perform the essential duties of their occupation.
One example of an employee exercising their duty to accommodate is to provide an accommodation to somebody who is in a wheelchair to provide wheelchair accessibility throughout the office. The point at which an employer is no longer obligated to provide accommodations is the point of undue hardship.
In addition to the duty to accommodate an employer may actually have a duty to inquire to see if accommodations may be needed from an employee to allow them to do their job. It’s very important from an employer’s perspective to realize that they cannot be willfully blind to problems that are happening with their employees.
If they notice that there may be a problem that’s preventing an employee from performing the essential duties of their occupation, they may have what’s called a duty to inquire which is the precursor to the duty to accommodate.
For more information regarding employee rights, contact Monkhouse Law Employment Lawyers. Monkhouse Law is a nationally recognized team of Employment Lawyers in Toronto focusing on workers’ issues.
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