First: Back and forth we go. Now the BC Court of Appeal has overturned the ruling of the Appeal Court, which overturned the BC Human Rights Tribunal decision that found Coast Mountain Bus Company guilty for instituting a program to reduce absentee rates. Now, the company has to exempt any employees with chronic sickness or disabilities from the program (recommended by BC’s auditor-general), in which employees who take too much “sick” time off work would end up losing their jobs. I wonder if the Tribunal will allow the company to require medical proof of such a disability or disease. Probably not…
Second: Will the Yukon Human Rights Commission investigate a case that involves a First Nations Chief? We will see…
Third: Just a quote from a blog (gruesome picture alert) that I found particularly telling:
Many of my posts are illegal under the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s rules of fairness. Of course, if I said about Baptists or Catholics what I say about Muslims, I would be safe from the OHRC. Only Islam is protected, protected even from the truth of its teachings and history.
The Human Rights Commissions win only when we are too frightened of them to speak our mind.
walker morrow
theodensdaughter
Binky
Don Sharpe
missmarprelate
“I wonder if the Tribunal will allow the company to require medical proof of such a disability or disease. ”
Yes and no. This happens all the time. An employer is not entitled to know exactly what the condition is, but is entitled to detailed medical information about how it affects the employee’s ability to work.
Thanks, Kevin. Although I suppose that common practice can often be successfully overturned in an HRT.
In principle yes. But this is a practice that Tribunals have affirmed over and over again.