In business, and in our everyday lives, we are no doubt aware that people are to be treated equally. We cannot discriminate based on race, age, and other factors.

Ironically, there are times that people are treated differently in order to have equal rights and to prevent and/or reduce cases of discrimination. As an employer or service provider, you have an obligation to eliminate negative treatment of individuals/groups based on prohibited grounds of discrimination. This is called your duty to accommodate, and it applies both to your employees and the public you serve.

The duty to accommodate may require that alternative arrangements be made to ensure full participation of a person or group in the business.

What is discrimination?

Discrimination is an action or a decision that results in treatment of a person or a group negatively for reasons such as race, age or disability. These reasons are known as grounds of discrimination, and are protected under the Canadian Human Rights Act as well as under Provincial legislation. In British Columbia, we are governed by the  BC Human Rights Code .

The 11 grounds of discrimination are:

  • race
  • nationality or country ethnic origin
  • colour
  • religion
  • age
  • gender
  • sexual orientation
  • marital status
  • family status
  • disability
  • a conviction for which a pardon has been granted or a record suspended

The following seven discriminatory practices are prohibited by the Canadian Human Rights Act when they are based on one or more of the 11 grounds of discrimination: 

  1. Denying someone goods, services, facilities or accommodation.
  2. Providing such goods, services, facilities or accommodation in a way that treats them adversely and differently.
  3. Refusing to employ someone, or treating them unfairly in the workplace.
  4. Following policies or practices that deprive people of employment opportunities.
  5. Paying men and women differently when they are doing work of the same value.
  6. Retaliating against a person who has filed a complaint with the Commission or against someone who has filed a complaint for them.
  7. Harassing someone. 

Examples of discrimination based on the various grounds:

  • An employer assigns her employees to weekend shifts without recognizing that some employees observe the Sabbath and cannot work on those days. This may be a case of discrimination based on the ground of religion.
  • An employer’s physical fitness requirements are based on the capabilities of an average 25 year old instead of being based on the actual requirements of the job. This may be a case of discrimination based on age.
  • A female employee with an excellent performance record announces that she is pregnant. Immediately, her employer begins to identify performance issues that lead to her dismissal. This may be a case of discrimination based on gender.
  • An employer requires all employees to have a valid driver’s licence. People who cannot drive due to a disability are not given an opportunity to show how they could still perform the job by, for example, using public transit. This may be a case of discrimination based on disability.

More information on discrimination can be found on the Canadian Human Rights Commission website.

We often get asked by employers for our opinion on situations concerning employees who are disabled. The issue is usually one of two concerns: the employee wants to be able to come back to work but the employer doesn’t feel the employee is ready; or, the employer wants to terminate the employee because he is not ready to come back to work.

To what extent must the employer provide accommodation to the employee?

Next time we will look more closely at an employer’s responsibility to accommodate a disabled employee. What constitutes the employer discriminating based on disability, and at what point can the employer be justified in ending the Employment Contract and terminating the employee? Stay tuned for our next post.