Recent Quebec Decisions On Reasonable Accommodation Limits In The Workplace

Pursuant to section 10 of Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms (Charter), employers in the province have a duty to provide reasonable accommodation. This requires adapting certain rules, practices and workplace requirements to ensure that a seemingly neutral standard does not exclude or disadvantage an employee on the basis of a Charter-protected ground. However, while important, this duty is not unlimited. Assessing the limits of the duty must take into account the specific circumstances, workplace risks, available organizational resources and the employee’s own duty to cooperate.

Recent case law continues to illustrate how these principles apply in practice. In this bulletin, we examine two recent decisions that offer helpful guidance for employers.