Canadian Employment Law Today

PM41261516 The battle of rights between employees and employers PG. 4 The pandemic has caused difficulties for both employers and employees, making it a delicate balance between the rights of both THE BRITISH Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed a worker's complaint of discrimina- tion based on disability when his return to work from medical leave was delayed due to a request for further medical information. Flexiforce is a company in Abottsford, B.C. that manufactures overhead door hardware and vinyl window frames. Most of the jobs at the company in- volve moderate to heavy manual work, except for the plastics department. As a result, it was normal practice to accommodate any employees with physical restric- tions in light duties in the plastics department. Sukhjinder Tumber worked as a labourer on the af- ternoon shift in the plastics department. On Nov. 6, 2017, he was off work with a work-related injury. He remained off work until Feb. 20, 2018 when he was scheduled to return to work on a graduated basis. Be- cause Tumber's regular duties in the plastics depart- ment were considered light, the company felt it didn't need to alter anything to accommodate recommenda- tions from an occupational therapist. Tumber went on an extended leave shortly there- after and eventually returned to modified light duties BY JEFFREY R. SMITH AN ONTARIO company must pay $187,000 to a long-time employee after it unsuccessfully tried to use the employee's failure to get along with a co-worker as just cause for dismissal. John Hucsko, 63, was employed as a senior product designer for A.O. Smith Enterprises and was hired in 1997. He worked on various assignments and their project managers, al- though he reported to different levels of man- agement. On June 28, 2017, a female project manager made a complaint to the company's HR man- ager about Hucsko. The complaint was based on four incidents she had experienced with him. The first incident came the day after a man- agers' dinner meeting when the project man- October 7, 2020 No Dutch treat for Uber PG. 3 Services agreement requiring arbitration in the Netherlands unconscionable and invalid, says Canada's top court WORKER on page 6 » CREDIT: FIZKES iSTOCK CREDIT: TILLSONBURG iSTOCK DESIRED on page 7 » with Colin G. M. Gibson Request for more medical information not discrimination B.C. worker's return to work delayed by employer's request, but information was necessary to determine accommodation Ask an Expert PG. 2 Conducting a timely misconduct investigation Refusing to say sorry not just cause for dismissal Ontario employer disciplined worker after inappropriate comments and then fired him after he refused to apologize to co-worker BY JEFFREY R. SMITH

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