Alberta, Canada Human Rights Tribunal Reminds Employees They Have Duties In The Workplace Accommodation Process

In Zupcic v Saputo Foods Limited, 2022 AHRC 13 (Saputo), the Human Rights Tribunal of Alberta (Tribunal) dismissed an employee's complaint that that she was discriminated against in employment on the ground of her physical disability in violation of section 7 of the Alberta Human Rights Act (AHRA) when the employer terminated her employment. In doing so, the Tribunal emphasized that the duty to accommodate is not exclusively that of the employer; employees (and their unions, if applicable) seeking accommodation have their own duty to inform the employer of facts relevant to their accommodation need. The Tribunal also stressed that when an employer proposes a reasonable accommodation, the employee has a responsibility to cooperate with its implementation.