Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD
The third session at First Reference’s Ontario Employment Law Conference on June 2, 2010, covers managing absenteeism. When dealing with absenteeism, employers must respect the protected leaves under the Employment Standards Act, as well as the accommodation rules found under the Human Rights Code and Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. Understandably, it may be difficult to balance employees’ rights under these pieces of legislation with employers’ need to have their employees productively working.
That said, it is important to know that recent case law has made it clear that employers are entitled to manage absenteeism in the workplace and monitor employees who are chronically absent from work due to disability. Moreover, employers can create a disability program involving regular contact with an employee’s physician in order to support treatment as a legitimate form of accommodation.
Furthermore, an employer has the right to terminate a disabled employee when, despite accommodation measures, that employee remains unable to resume work for the foreseeable future. That is, an employer is not obliged to indefinitely employ someone who is not capable of regular job performance. If the characteristics of an illness are such that it will excessively hamper the proper operation of the business, or if an employee with such an illness remains unable to work for the reasonably foreseeable future, even though the employer has tried to accommodate the employee, the employer will have satisfied the test of accommodation to the point of undue hardship.
At the conference, you will learn the above principles and how to apply them to your leaves and accommodation policies, including your disability management program, by reviewing:
There is much more—come and learn how to manage absenteeism. Register for the 2010 Employment Law Conference co-sponsored by Stringer Brisbin Humphrey, and Learn the latest! (Registrations now closed)
The Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act violence and harassment prevention provisions (Bill 168) require an employer to take all reasonable precautions in the circumstances for the protection of all employees if a domestic violence situation is likely to expose a worker to physical injury in the workplace and the employer becomes aware or ought reasonably to be aware of the situation.
But what does that imply? The law states the requirement but provides little guidance on what employers need to do to prevent domestic violence from spilling into the workplace. In addition, many employers are not comfortable addressing a situation of such a personal nature. It is not an easy task to complete and might never be.
Marie-Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B. Managing Editor
The Ontario Occupational Health and safety Act violence and harassment prevention provisions (Bill 168) require employers to provide information, including personal information, about a person with a history of violent behaviour if:
Marie-Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B. Managing Editor
Accommodating employees with disabilities to the point of undue hardship under human rights legislation can be a complicated task. It’s important to make sure the accommodation process goes smoothly and the employee can focus on working as efficiently as possible, but employers may not be sure about what kinds of questions to ask disabled employees in order to meet their needs.
Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD