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ARTICLE · 18 MARCH 2020

Family Status Accommodation Requests: How Far Do Employers Need To Go?

McCarthy Tétrault
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In the Simpson decision, the employee was a personal support worker in a retirement home.

CanadaEmployment and HR
Ontario Employer Advisor
Ontario Employer Advisor
Simmy Sahdra
Simmy Sahdra
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In Ontario, employers continue to have uncertainty regarding the extent of their legal obligations when accommodating an employee's family status responsibilities. The human rights landscape in Ontario has been fraught with differing legal standards and understandings of what an employer's legal obligations are regarding family status accommodation.

The recent decision, Simpson v Pranajen Group Ltd. o/a Nimigon Retirement Home, 2019 HRTO 10, ("Simpson") did not clarify the legal test for family status accommodation, but has provided some additional considerations for employers when assessing family status accommodation requests.

In the Simpson decision, the employee was a personal support worker in a retirement home. The employee's eldest child was autistic, and it was essential for a caregiver to be at the employee's home when the school bus dropped the child off after school. The employee was the only family member available to be at home during the drop-off.

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