Having Faith
Faith-based discrimination and harassment on the rise A 2016 study by the Environics Institute found that one-third of Muslims in Canada have experienced discrimination or unfair treatment in the past five years due to their religion, ethnicity / culture, language or sex. The survey elaborates that this treatment is most commonly experienced in the workplace, […]
Recent Decision on a Casual Worker’s Rights Surrounding Her Pregnancy
On January 23, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the case of Dionne c. Commission Scolaire des Patriotes. It is a case coming out of Quebec that touches on the issue of pregnancy-based discrimination and the extension of benefits to vulnerable workers. On May 1, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada released their judgment. In […]
Pregnancy-Related Discrimination
Background Natalya Golovaneva came to me for guidance two weeks before her hearing before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in July 2015. She was determined to bring to light what she strongly felt was discrimination in the workplace on account of her pregnancy, which ultimately cost her a job. She had returned to school […]
The State Has No Place In The Bedroom Of The Nation… But Does Your Employer?
In 1968, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau ushered in significant changes to the Criminal Code, which had until then criminalized homosexuality, with the following well-known pronouncement: There is no place for the state in the bedroom of the nation. What is done in private between two adults does not concern the Criminal Code. Although […]
Human Rights Complaints in the Workplace
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of all applications received by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in 2010-2011 arose in the workplace.[i] Presentation by David Wright, Associate Chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to the Human Resources Professional Association, January 2012. Colleen Hoey is an Ottawa-based lawyer practicing in the areas of Employment Law, Human Rights Law, […]
Employers Must Accommodate Childcare Obligations
Human rights legislation prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee on the basis of “family status”. Does this protection require an employer to modify a work schedule or refuse a work assignment due to child care obligations? In Canadian National Railway v. Seeley, 2013 FC 117, the Federal Court of Canada confirms that family […]
