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Let us open right door for you the We specialize in Employment and Labour Law in Canada Kuretzky Vassos Henderson is a leading employment and labour law fi rm situated in the heart of Toronto. We are comprised of nine lawyers, all of whom specialize in the area of employment and labour law. We act for many prominent public and private sector employers as well as for individuals. Kuretzky Vassos Henderson LLP Our work includes extensive experience in the areas of: Wrongful dismissal • Human rights • Labour relations/Labour law/Collective barganing • Workplace health and safety • Sexual harassment • Employment standards • Employment contracts • Canada Labour Code • Class actions • Mediation/arbitration/ADR www.kuretzkyvassos.com • 416.865.0504 Adding to the conflict is the fact that human rights legis- lation varies across the country, which in some cases means family status isn't a ground for protection in the first place. In a recent arbitration ruling in Quebec, for example, Sébastien Patoine lost his bid to appeal his firing over his refusal to take on-call shifts due to family responsibilities. Noting his new child-care duties conflicted with his job at industrial cleaning company Environnement Godin Inc., Patoine and his union argued he should be exempt from on-call duties during the weeks he had custody of his child. But he ran up against a major barrier. Unlike most provinces, Quebec's human rights legislation doesn't protect against dis- crimination based on family status, therefore Environnement Godin had no duty to accommodate. Nevertheless, even in that case, the arbitrator chose to give the employee one last chance to find a solution by lifting his firing and instead imposing a six-month suspension. As a result, says Béatrice Arronis, of Miller Thomson LLP uretzky_CL_Feb_09.indd 1 Enforcing Human Rights in Ontario 7/23/09 10:38:03 AM Mary Cornish, Fay Faraday and Jo-Anne Pickel Kim Bernhardt, B.A. (Hons.) LL.B. LL.M, Specializing in equality rights This is the first book to outline how the new human rights system works, written by lawyers renown for their experience in the area. Written in a practical how-to format, it provides: • the history of the reform • the wide-ranging changes from the old to the new system – including the changed roles of the Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Tribunal and an overview of the new Human Rights Legal Support Centre • practical information and principled analysis to help those representing complainants, respondents, intervenors and the Commission Practical tools include: copies of the legislation, flow charts covering the new tribunal rules and procedures, a list of the Commission's guidelines, information on legal supports… and more Hardbound • 336 pp • March 2009 • $98 P/C 0301010000 • ISBN 978-0-088804-485-3 canadalawbook.ca MERGING TRADITION WITH TECHNOLOGY For a 30-day, no-risk evaluation call: 1.800.263.2037 Canada Law Book is a Division of The Cartwright Group Ltd Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. 40 A UGUST 2009 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com Cornish_enforcing Human Rights (CL 1-3sq).indd 1 7/8/09 3:08:24 PM CL0809 in Montreal, in Quebec at least, even if the laws don't require accommodation in such cases, employers would be wise to show extra patience before firing an employee. More generally, Robert Monti of Nelligan O'Brien Payne LLP in Ottawa, says the best recourse for employers is to mitigate risk by making their best efforts to adjust, something he argues would have the side ben- efit of helping workplaces retain their employees. Still, Michael Fitzgibbon, a partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Toronto, says the ques- tion of whether employers have a duty to accommodate depends on the particu- lar circumstances of each case. Smaller workplaces, for example, might have more difficulty than larger businesses in allowing a worker to switch to part- time hours from a full-time schedule, he notes. In those cases, the employer would have an easier time arguing that accommodating would involve undue hardship. Defending human rights cases has also become easier with the recession, according to Toronto employment lawyer Daniel Lublin. Since the markets began their slide last year, he has seen busi- nesses increasingly blame the downturn for firing people who then come to him alleging discrimination. Substantiating those claims is harder since employ- ers can claim economic necessity. "It's simple for them to couch the true reason based on the economic catastrophe," says Lublin. "In other words, it is a difficult time for employees to make allegations of discrimination." For him, then, the challenge is to find some direct evidence that the employer is biased by, for example, getting proof that "Practitioners will welcome this much-needed and comprehensive guide to the human rights system in Ontario. This book is a strong testament to the authors' expertise and long-standing commitment to ensuring the protection and advancement of human rights in this province."