legal words
Accommodating Caregiving
Requirements
PROTECT YOUR ORGANIZATION FROM DISCRIMINATION
ON THE BASIS OF FAMILY STATUS CLAIMS
By Sheryl Johnson
Protection against discrimination on the basis of fami-ly
status is relatively new in Canada. Perhaps its relative
“newness” contributes to making it one of the most difficult
forms of workplace accommodation requests for employ-ers
to respond to. Generally, such requests will be connected to
caregiving responsibilities and must arise out of the parent-child
relationship – meaning childcare or eldercare responsibilities. In
the case of the “sandwich generation,” it will be both. The difficulty
for employers is not to immediately consider an employee’s care-giving
requirements as an isolated personal choice as opposed to
a requirement for accommodation resulting from family respon-sibilities
from meeting work requirements.
In a recent example, the employer failed to view caregiving re-quirements
decision of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local
2034 v. Manitoba Hydro (Riley, September 10, 2013) and was
found to have acted unreasonably and in breach of the collective
agreement by refusing the grievor his flex-time request under the
collective agreement’s flex-time provisions to change his start and
THERE IS NO SET FORMULA
OR “ONE FITS ALL” SOLUTION.
A SOLUTION MAY MEET ONE
EMPLOYEE’S REQUIREMENTS
BUT NOT ANOTHER’S.
beyond a caregiver’s control that preclude the employee
as necessary for accommodation in the arbitration
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HRPATODAY.CA ❚ SEPTEMBER 2014 ❚ 15