As a result of the serendipity of of the holidays falling upon
the next two Wednesdays, Christmas and New Year's Day have come
early for my readers. Here is my year-end wrap up of the major
employment law developments of 2013:
1. Accommodating both sides of the sandwich
generation. Human rights decisions in Deveney v. Zeidler
Partnership and in Johnstone v. Canadian Border Services require
employers to change their hours, locations and terms of work to
accommodate both their employees' child care and elder care
needs.
In Johnstone v. Canadian Border Services, the Toronto Airport
Authority was ordered by the Federal Court to create a shift, of
limited utility, to meet a shiftworker's child care
obligations, even overriding more senior unionized employees'
rights to their choice of shifts. In Deveney v. Zeidler, a human
rights tribunal ordered the architecture firm to allow Deveney to
work from home to assist his elderly parent notwithstanding its
normal practice
