Accommodating The Use Of A Seeing-Eye Dog: A Precedent-Setting Decision

In a ruling handed down by Quebec's Human Rights Tribunal late last month, an employer who had refused to allow a blind employee to use a seeing-eye dog in the workplace was ordered to pay the now-former employee $7,605 in damages.¹

Facts

The plaintiff, a massage therapist who has suffered from a degenerative sight condition since the age of 17, was working at a care centre offering a massage therapy service. When she was interviewed for the job, she said she would soon be getting a seeing-eye dog, and the employer told her they would figure out a solution at that time. In the months after she was hired, she told her employer she had to temporarily suspend her availability so she could attend training given by the Mira Foundation for the purpose of getting her seeing-eye dog.