Recent Ontario human rights jurisprudence has reaffirmed many of
the principles associated with the employer's duty to
accommodate. In particular, when assessing accommodation requests,
employers need not apply/accept each accommodation request, but
must ensure that they are only denying or limiting lawful
accommodation requests in the presence of sufficient evidence to
support the limitation or denial.
In a recent 2018 arbitral decision, International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, Local 636 v Tyco Integrated Fire and Security Canada
Inc, an employee with type 1 diabetes was denied the
ability to test his blood sugar glucose levels and administer
insulin in his personal office. The employer required the employee
to leave his cubical and use a private office to administer insulin
and test his blood sugar glucose levels. This is a process that
people with diabetes are required to complete multiple times a day.
Only in the event of an emergency was the employee
