Ontario's Proposed Employment Standards Ready
Public Input Sought to Boost Employment for People with Disabilities
Mar 10, 2009
In 2005, the province of Ontario passed the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, or what was then known as Bill 118. This Bill was to add to and become more comprehensive than the existing Ontarians with Disabilities Act, which only included the broader public sector and the creation of accessibility plans. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, or the AODA for short, is a broader attempt to regulate many areas of the public, non-profit and private sectors to ensure full accessibility for all Ontarians with disabilities by the year 2025.
Standards Development Committees Formed
As part of its development, the provincial government set up several standards development committees, comprised of all stakeholders with a 50% representation by persons with disabilities on each committee. So far, there are five such committees: customer service, transportation, information and communications, employment and built environment. The standards for customer service have passed into law effective January 1, 2008. The proposed standards for transportation accessibility have been put through public review and have now been submitted to the Minister for her review and at some point, a final decision will be made. Both information and communications standards, as well as employment accessibility standards, have recently been published to receive input from the public.
In the case of employment accessibility, the proposed standards that have been developed by the committee are published on the Accessibility Directorate’s website and input is being sought from all individuals, businesses and organizations on or before May 22nd, 2009. After May 22nd, 2009, Ministry staff will assemble all comments received and sort them according to the proposed standards and the employment accessibility standards development committee will meet again to review this input and integrate it into an improved standard to finally submit to the Minister by late summer 2009.
Employment Standards Will Not Replace Human Rights Code
The proposed document is set out to seek comment on a number of fronts. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act does not replace the Human Rights Code, as the Code is quasi-constitutional and it overrides anything that can be written in the AODA. Because of this, attempts by the committee have been made to ensure that any recommendations it makes will help employers understand and meet their obligations under the Code as opposed to creating new obligations Prior to AODA, employers were obligated to refrain from discriminating against or harassing an employee or prospective employee on the basis on disability, as well were required to accommodate persons with disabilities in their workplaces up to the point of undue hardship.
Under the AODA, employers are still required to do all of these things. What is different however is that employers must now develop internal policies and act on them to ensure that persons with disabilities not only are accommodated in their workplaces, but proactive measures must be taken to identify and remove barriers through all stages of the employment life cycle. For example, employers must take into consideration such things as how a job description is developed, or how they will reach out to ensure that persons with disabilities can learn about and apply for the job from the start. Depending on the size of the employer, this may be a relatively simple process, or it can be more complex, involving evaluating a job for its physical demand characteristics. Further, an employer may be required to evaluate the workplace as a whole to see how jobs can be re-designed to make it possible for persons with disabilities to fill the essential duties of the job. In some cases, accommodation may be as simple as changing seating arrangements for the worker. In others, the purchase of assistive devices or special software to enable an employee to do the same job would be necessary. Again, like the employer’s obligation under the Code, its duties under the AODA depend on its size (number of employees).
The accessibility standard for employment is set out according to various obligations that the committee thought all employers should have or just some of them (esp. larger ones or those in the broader public sector). As the number of employees increase, the committee has set out an increasing level of obligations for employers to help them in increasing the numbers of persons with disabilities hired and accommodated within. These duties are assigned by size, as larger employers are believed to have more resources for developing and evaluating policies of this type.
Input Sought on Final Standards
While it makes some sense to obligate larger employers with a higher level of accountability, it must be noted that most employers have less than fifty employees, and thus would be more likely to be hiring people with disabilities. Further, while the committee did work hard on its draft and it is largely complete, comments are certainly welcome on any aspect of the draft standard. General comments are welcome as well, such as how you believe more employers can be encouraged and assisted in hiring more persons with disabilities. Further, as an employer, what kind of support would you need in order to help you not only comply to the standard, but to include more workers with disabilities in your workplace? People have until May 22, 2009, to make their comments.
