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You are here: Home / Accessibility Standards / Accommodating the disabled employee: The individual accommodation plan

By Doug MacLeod, MacLeod Law Firm | 2 Minutes Read February 9, 2016

Accommodating the disabled employee: The individual accommodation plan

accommodation planFor many years, Ontario employers have been obliged to accommodate disabled employees unless it results in undue hardship.

There is a procedural aspect to the duty to accommodate, and a substantive aspect to this duty.

A new concept: The individual accommodation plan

As of January 1, 2016, employers with 50 or more employees are required to create a written individual accommodation plan for any employee who requests accommodation.

Accordingly, employers are required to adopt a more formalized approach when responding to a request for accommodation.

Required elements of an individual accommodation plan

The written individual accommodation plan must include, among other things, the following eight elements:

  1. The manner in which an employee requesting accommodation can participate in the development of the individual accommodation plan.
  2. The means by which the employee is assessed on an individual basis.
  3. The manner in which the employer can request an evaluation by an outside medical or other expert, at the employer’s expense, to assist the employer in determining if accommodation can be achieved and, if so, how accommodation can be achieved.
  4. The manner in which the employee can request the participation of a representative from their bargaining agent, where the employee is represented by a bargaining agent, or other representative from the workplace, where the employee is not represented by a bargaining agent, in the development of the accommodation plan.
  5. The steps taken to protect the privacy of the employee’s personal information.
  6. The frequency with which the individual accommodation plan will be reviewed and updated and the manner in which it will be done.
  7. If an individual accommodation plan is denied, the manner in which the reasons for the denial will be provided to the employee.
  8. The means of providing the individual accommodation plan in a format that takes into account the employee’s accessibility needs due to disability.

So when an employee or job applicant asks “How do you accommodate a disabled employee?” you should answer “We prepare an individual accommodation plan for the employee.”

Ten additional new duties owed to disabled employees

In addition to requiring an employer to prepare a written individual accommodation plan for a disabled employee, the Employment Standards section of the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act imposes 10 other new obligations on employers.

For more information on these new obligations, read my earlier article on these obligations.

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Doug MacLeod, MacLeod Law Firm
Employment and labour lawyer at MacLeod Law Firm
For the past 30 years, Doug MacLeod, founder of the MacLeod Law Firm, a Canadian labour and employment law firm, has been advising and representing employers in connection with employee terminations. If you have any questions, you can contact him at 416 317-9894 or at [email protected]
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Article by Doug MacLeod, MacLeod Law Firm / Accessibility Standards, Employee Relations, Human Rights, Privacy, Union Relations / Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, duty to accommodate, individual accommodation plan, request for accommodation, undue hardship

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About Doug MacLeod, MacLeod Law Firm

For the past 30 years, Doug MacLeod, founder of the MacLeod Law Firm, a Canadian labour and employment law firm, has been advising and representing employers in connection with employee terminations. If you have any questions, you can contact him at 416 317-9894 or at [email protected]

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