An Employer's Limited Access To Medical Documentation For Accommodation Requests

In a policy statement released early last month, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (the "Commission") clarified its position on the scope of medical documentation that employees need to provide when making disability-related accommodation requests to their employers. The policy statement supplements the existing Policy on Ableism and Discrimination Based on Disability, and reminds employers that under the Ontario Human Rights Code (the "Code"), they have a legal duty to accommodate to the point of undue hardship. It is important to remember that although the policies issued by the Commission are not law, they can have a persuasive effect on courts. In fact, these policies are given great deference by the courts and are often quoted in their decisions.