Disability and health problems at work and on termination
Disability and health problems at work and on termination are a huge area of litigation and concern in Ontario.
Some statistics show that the greatest number of discrimination claims in Ontario are in employment and the most common form of workplace discrimination is on the ground of illness or disability.
As the average age of Ontario employees gets higher, there are simply more employees suffering health difficulties but continuing to work.
If you suffer from health or disability issues and have been fired from your job or believe you have not been properly accommodated by your employer, call Guy Hunter at 416-856-4179 for a free half-hour consultation.
On top of the duty for the employer to accommodate such problems as:
- serious medical conditions such as cancer, heart disease, the effects of stroke, diabetes, COPD, etc.;
- repetitive strain injury or carpal tunnel;
- chronic pain;
- concussions or other injuries from car accidents or sports activities,
there is a growing awareness of how widespread mental health issues are in the general populace. There is also a growing acceptance of so-called hidden disabilities such as:
- learning disabilities such as dyslexia and ADHD;
- sleep apnea and other disabilities that affect cognitive reasoning;
- stress and anxiety disorders;
- addictions including alcohol, sex and drug addiction.
It is important for employees to understand that these conditions do not have to be caused by the workplace in order for the employer to have a duty to accommodate these disabilities up to the point of undue hardship.
However, the employee has a very important decision to make as to whether or not to disclose these medical condition to the employer. The benefit of that disclosure is that then the employer will have a duty to accommodate. In addition, some employers provide Short Term Disability or Long Term Disability coverage.
On the other hand, many employees are rightly or wrongly concerned that disclosure of these medical problems will
- cause the employer to wish to dismiss them, or
- negatively affect their professional reputation.
So the decision of how to deal with this is important.
Guy Hunter has a lot of experience assisting employees with health issues.
Guy Hunter has, for example:
- helped an injured worker on LTD (long term disability) at dismissal get increased common law notice due to his injury/conditions and job prospects without having to deduct the LTD payment he had already received from his insurer during the notice period. (Contreras v. Canac 2010 ONSC 849 (CanLII) ).
- helped someone with a long disciplinary record and panic attacks get reinstated in employment, based on his medical state and allegations of improper exercise of the employer’s duty to accommodate.
- advised people psychologically affected by abuse at work on how to advance their claim(s).
How can an employment law lawyer help an employee suffering from an illness or disability?
There are a series of ways in which an employment lawyer can assist the employee with problems at work relating to health or disability:
- Help the employee obtain appropriate workplace accommodations;
- Launch and litigate a civil or human rights claim;
- Help the employee obtain more money on dismissal, either through an elongated notice period or as a separate head of damages;
- In some instances, get the employee reinstated in their old job;
- Help the employee obtain money on dismissal that might be exempt from an EI clawback;
- Help the employee think through his/her priorities in terms of reputation, privacy, reinstatement and compensation.
Rights to privacy, duty to accommodate and the workplace insurer
The issue of medical problems or disabilities is complicated because there is the right of the employee to have privacy regarding their medical conditions.
In many cases of an employee suffering from an illness or disability, the HR department will have some information about the nature of the health problem of the employee. In other cases, this information is provided to the insurer in an application for short term disability or long-term disability. However the employer may or may not have a right to that information.
There may be a real challenge between maintaining one’s reputation as a highly competent, highly skilled and uncompromised employee while offsetting that against the employer’s duty to accommodate any illness or disability up to the extent of undue hardship.
When every attempt is made to provide helpful information in this website, you may not rely on the information above as legal advice.