Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 20, 2015 NEWS 7 citizens, of the benefits of the same legislation that all of us do, includ- ing our labour legislation and our minimum wage legislation." Started back in the 1950s, these programs were created at a time when it was thought people with developmental disabilities should either live at home with their fam- ilies or in residential institutions, said Michael Bach, executive vice- president of the Canadian Asso- ciation for Community Living (CACL) in Toronto. Eventually, "sheltered workshops" developed, with government-funded activi- ties and day programs. "So we're, in a sense, stuck with that infrastructure and these poli- cies and programs… while our assumptions about the plights of people with developmental dis- abilities have moved on.… not entirely but there's more and more acceptance and commitment to building a more inclusive labour market," he said. ere have been human rights and equality challenges to this premise, and provincial employ- ment standards have changed, said Bach. But to get around some of the human rights concerns, the programs have been labelled life skills training programs or volun- teer opportunities. e problem is people can stay in the programs for a long time — the Ottawa workers, for exam- ple, were there for 26 years, said Keenan Wellar, co-leader and director of communications at LiveWorkPlay in Ottawa, which helps individuals with intellec- tual disabilities succeed in their communities. "Clearly, that is really challeng- ing the definition of training. I don't think any person would re- ally buy into that," he said. Even when people are training, they deserve real pay, said Bodnar. "None of us do training for less than minimum wage — why would people with developmen- tal disabilities do that? It's funda- mentally not a sound policy nor a sound human rights platform." 2014 tribunal decision ere have been a couple of chal- lenges to these exemptions for "training programs," said Wellar, citing the case of Garrie v. Janus Joan. at saw Terri-Lynn Garrie awarded more than $180,000 in 2014 by the Human Rights Tri- bunal of Ontario for lost income and monetary compensation for discrimination and injury to dig- nity, feelings and self-respect. The tribunal disagreed that Garrie, who has a developmen- tal disability, was a trainee as she worked for the employer for over 10 years doing the same work. Many employers feel they're of- fering a benefit to these individu- als, said Russell Groves, a lawyer at Filion Wakely orup Angeletti in Toronto. "ere's not always villains in this case, there's probably well- intentioned people sometimes, although they're still violating the law." If the employer's getting full val- ue from these workers, they should pay the full rate, said Groves. "For the individual too, it's de- grading to realize that you're be- ing paid 10 per cent of what your co-workers are being paid." As for the argument lower wag- es help keep income levels down when it comes to government as- sistance, that doesn't fly in Ontario where there's no issue with peo- ple's disability pension, said Wellar. "(It) is set up very carefully to not discourage people from working, so even though as your income increases beyond $200, they begin to reduce your benefits by 50 cents on the dollar. Do the math any way you want and you're way better off with your employ- ment income," he said. "It's prob- ably $8 to $10,000 more a year in people's pockets if they are getting minimum wage instead of honou- rariums or stipends or whatever twist you put on that." People are fearful of losing oth- er benefits or they fear they won't get back on those benefits if their job falls through, said Bodnar. "We need to look at how we create income programs that en- courage people to work beyond those income-earning exemp- tions, so they need to be able to maintain health benefits within a certain range of income." e ideal solution would see government setting up a program to approve this type of arrange- ment, said Groves. "ey'd have to review the sta- tus of the individual, the type of work that was being done, the remuneration, if they'd have to be integrated into other provisions of social assistance — that kind of plan could work for everyone because it'd be protection against exploitation, but you would still allow these people with cogni- tive disabilities to get out and be involved and enjoy the benefit of being in an integrated society. Is it better if employers would just hire them and pay them full wage? Of course, but it's perhaps not practi- cal in all cases." e financing needs to change so agencies support people to par- ticipate more directly in the com- munity and build bridges with employers, said Bach. "We need to look at develop- mental disability as just another side of diversity." As an example, the Canadian Association for Community Liv- ing has been working with em- ployers such as Costco and Home Depot to hire people with devel- opmental disabilities, for at least minimum wage, he said. "People have either assumed that this group is taken care of because we have these services out there in the community or (they're) not quite sure what to do. ey may think it's a great idea but just don't have the knowledge or support to do it, they don't know where to turn. And so we're trying to fill that gap for them and create a bridge." Agencies need to build bridges with employers DISABILITIES < pg. 1

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