Most employers are already aware that they have a legal duty to
accommodate an employee's disability, up to the point of undue
hardship. With a number of recent Human Rights Tribunal decisions,
however, employers are quickly learning about their legal
obligation to accommodate employees on the ground of their
"family status".
What does "Family Status" mean?
The Ontario Human Rights Code prohibits
discrimination on a variety of grounds, including "family
status". The Code defines "family status"
fairly narrowly as the "status of being in a parent and child
relationship"..... But the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has
given the term a very liberal interpretation... Over recent years,
the protection has been extended to relationships with
step-parents, same sex spousal-child relationships, foster parent
relationships and pregnancy. In a recent case, the Tribunal
extended the definition of "family status" even further
to provide Code protection to adult children
