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While the Toronto winter may make many of us chilly and irritable, one resident recently took his frustrations a step too far.
In early January, an angry driver called 911 to report that snowplows were driving too slowly and he was going to be late for work. He informed the 911 operator that if he was late again, he was going to be penalized by his employer. The 911 operator understandably informed him that she could not make snowplows go faster.
While winter weather and slow snowplows do not give rise to an employer's duty to accommodate employees, adjusting an employee's start time or hours of work may be required under the Ontario Human Rights Code to accommodate protected grounds such as family status, disability, or sex, unless doing so causes undue hardship. Employers risk liability if they penalize employees for conduct linked to a protected ground (e.g., lateness or absences) or fail to properly assess accommodation requests, even if accommodation is ultimately unnecessary.
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