Ruling is good news for caregivers

IF YOU provide caregiving, you can now more easily seek accommodation from your employer, thanks to a recent ruling by the B.C. Court of Appeal.

In this case, the complainant, along with her husband, worked for Gibraltar Mines and they both worked the same 12-hour shift.

After the birth of their first child, the new mother sought a workplace accommodation. She requested that either she or her husband work a different shift. Changing their working schedule would help them with their child care responsibilities.

Her employer, Gibraltar Mines, refused. The new mother then filed a human rights complaint. In her submission, she alleged discrimination on the basis of “family status”. This status is a protected ground under the B.C. Human Rights Code.

The employer’s defense relied on a narrow “change of employment” test. Gibraltar Mines argued no accommodation was required, as they had not changed the worker’s employment terms or conditions.

For that reason, Gibraltar Mines claimed they had done nothing to discriminate against the complainant. In other words, nothing had changed in their relationship to their employee.

The Court of Appeal disagreed with Gibraltar Mines.

The court ruled no previous case and no wording in the B.C. Human Rights Code supported the employer’s position. If a worker’s personal circumstances change, an employer must accommodate their caregiving responsibilities.

The Supreme Court of Canada has deepened these human rights protections by ruling that human rights laws should be interpreted more liberally. Previously, legal precedent on human rights accommodation was far more limited.

TASHA LORENZEN-EWING

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