Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

The PSAC-BC Human Rights Committee would like to invite all interested and available members to participate in an audio conference with Lancaster House  on “Accommodating Disabilities (to the point of undue hardship): The Tough Questions, the Up-To-Date Answers” (see below for conference description).

The PSAC-BC Human Rights Committee is supporting one playback session which is scheduled for Monday, October 16 from 12:30 pm - 2 pm to be held at the Vancouver Regional Office (#200 - 5238 Joyce Street). They are requesting that those who wish to participate to arrive at noon in order to receive the accompanying materials and get set-up for the audio conference.

The audio conference itself is organized by Lancaster House (www.lancasterhouse.com) so the date and time cannot be changed. The Committee realizes that this time may be during work hours for most members. If people are able to attend, please RSVP as light snacks will be served.

For those unable to attend or outside of the Lower Mainland, there will also be a CD copy available for loan upon request in November/December.

Conference description: Erin Kuzz, Employer Counsel, Sherrard Kuzz and Mary MacKinnon, Union Counsel, Raven Cameron, will join moderator Anne Gregory, Union Counsel, Canadian Union of Public Employees, for a discussion of recent developments in this area.

Some of the questions to be addressed:

• What sorts of conditions qualify as disabilities entitling employees to accommodation? Do they include stomach flu? Migraine headaches? Burnout? Stress caused by disciplinary action? Chronic fatigue?
• How should an employer determine whether inadequate job performance is related to inability or disability?
• Does the employer have a duty to accommodate a disability if it is unaware that the employee is disabled?
• Does the employer have an obligation to make inquiries if it has some basis for suspecting that the employee may be disabled? What is the position of the parties if the employer makes inquiries, and the employee denies a disability, but denial is part of the disabling condition (e.g. alcoholism, mental illness), or the employee is unwilling, for personal reasons, to disclose confidential health information?
• If an employer has a duty to accommodate employees with disabilities including those whom it perceives to be drug-addicted, can it apply tougher rules to casual users?
• What sort of individualized evaluation does the duty to accommodate require (e.g. functional abilities assessment)? What medical evidence is an employer entitled to request to support an assertion of disability?
• What factors can an employer take into account in determining whether accommodative measures would cause undue hardship? Only those listed in human rights legislation (in Ontario, cost, health and safety, and source of funding) or such concerns as morale, productivity, operational efficiency, impact on collective agreement rights of other employees, e.g. seniority?
• How much absenteeism is an employer expected to tolerate before it becomes an undue hardship? Does the answer depend on the size of the employer’s workforce and the interchangeability of functions among employees?
• If the employer decides that a particular job would be unsafe for the employee to perform, given his or her disability, can the employee insist on doing it by accepting the risk?
• What kinds of jobs is an employer required to offer to meet the duty to accommodate? What kinds of jobs can an employee decline to accept without breaching the duty to co-operate?
• What kind of evidence would support a decision that accommodation is impossible, i.e. no accommodation would work?

On behalf of the PSAC-BC Human Rights Committee,

Monica Urrutia, Regional Representative