In accommodating an employee with a physical and/or mental disability in the workplace, the employer must follow a number of guidelines, but these should be adapted to each employer’s own approach, said Kevin MacNeill, partner at Heenan Blaikie. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach.”
MacNeill and two colleagues from the firm’s National Labour & Employment Law Group presented their “Managing Disability in the Workplace” seminar Wednesday in Toronto.
The two-hour session covered everything from unco-operative employees and vague medical notes to when an employer can actually terminate a disabled employee.
The lawyers also discussed how far an employer must go in accommodating disability, as well as the obligations of each of the parties involved: the employer, the employee and the union.