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ARTICLE · 10 DECEMBER 2008

Duty To Accommodate Religious Observance Does Not Require Paid Leave In All Circumstances

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
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The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled recently that employers are not required to give employees paid leave from work in order to accommodate religious observances.

CanadaEmployment and HR
Labour & Employment Group
Labour & Employment Group
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Copyright 2008, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Originally published in Blakes Bulletin on Labour & Employment, December 2008

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled recently that employers are not required to give employees paid leave from work in order to accommodate religious observances. Rather, in most cases, the employer's duty to accommodate can be satisfied by providing employees with options involving scheduling changes that allow employees to observe their religious holidays without incurring any loss of pay.

In the case of Markovic v. Autocom Manufacturing Ltd., the Tribunal considered a complaint of discrimination filed by Savo Markovic. Mr. Markovic, a member of the Serbian Orthodox Church, alleged that Autocom discriminated against him by refusing to provide paid leave for his observance of the Eastern Orthodox Christmas on January 7, 2004. Autocom's leave policy did not provide two paid days off for religious observance to parallel payment for the

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