Caregiver Rights in the Workplace Canada
How Common Are Caregiving Responsibilities in Canada?
A new study from Mental Health Research Canada showed that nearly half of all Canadians have caregiving responsibilities for family members, whether children, elderly relatives, or family with special needs. This leads to higher rates of burnout, financial stress, and unmet mental health needs among these caregivers. It often becomes an example of “double burden” where employees struggle to balance their paid work and their unpaid domestic work caring for family. Luckily, human rights legislation provides a form of protection for such employees.
Is Family Status Protected Under Human Rights Law?
Under both the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act, family status is a protected ground. Employees (and prospective employees in the hiring process) cannot be discriminated against on the basis of family status. Human rights tribunals interpret this broadly to include the duty to care for children, aging parents, and relatives with disabilities, rather than just the ‘typical’ parent-child caregiving relationship.
What Does Family Status Discrimination Look Like?
Discrimination on the basis of family status can take many forms. For example, a parent could be disciplined because of their need to take occasional time off to take their child to medical appointments. Another example of discrimination would be an employee being overlooked for a promotion because of their inability to attend company social events. If they are seen as less of a ‘team player’ due to this, but their absences can be explained by their need to attend to caregiving responsibilities, an employer has significant exposure to a human rights complaint.
Employers have a duty to accommodate to the point of undue hardship. Importantly, some hardship is not enough for an employer to throw in the towel. It must be significant for a human rights tribunal or court to find there is no duty to accommodate. For example, allowing caregiver employees to leave earlier or arrive later as long as those hours are made up outside of regular business hours is a common example of a reasonable accommodation. An example of a more unrealistic accommodation would be bringing a child to an industrial workplace during an employee’s shift. That is more likely to constitute undue hardship for the employer due to the danger and risk involved.
Why Is Caregiver Accommodation So Important?
While caring for our family members is a duty many take pride in, this does not take away from the fact that the lack of work-life balance can cause significant stress and mental suffering. You have an entitlement to reasonable accommodation on the basis of family status and should not be afraid to fight for these rights. An experienced employment lawyer can help you determine the strength of your case, and your potential recourse if an employer is refusing to accommodate your caregiving responsibilities. If you would like to further discuss caregiver accommodation in the workplace, please contact Whitten & Lublin online or by phone at (416) 640-2667 today.
Author – Sohrab Naderi