Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 4, 2016 14 NEWS Labour law research just got faster, easier and more comprehensive. LabourSource™ on WestlawNext® Canada combines the most robust collection of grievance arbitrations with court and board decisions, expert commentary, legislation and collective bargaining-related content – with Canada's most advanced search engine. A single search delivers the content you're looking for, whether it's case law, legislation, commentary, or legal memos. You can then filter your results to get exactly what you need. With LabourSource, you'll always be confident that your research is complete and that you haven't missed anything. Experience the benefits • Prepare winning grievance arbitrations and labour board applications • Successfully negotiate favourable collective agreements • Stay up to date on the latest labour-related decisions, industrial relations and economic news Legal content that is labour focused, not labour intensive Introducing LabourSource™ on WestlawNext® Canada See the LabourSource advantage View a demo at westlawnextcanada.com/laboursource 00224EP-A47770 Ontario Ministry of Labour. "Employers have a right to take care of employees as they see fit as long as they're abiding by the ESA (Employment Standards Act)," said Deline. "ere are some employers that may wish to do more for their employees and that would be completely up to the individual employer." Employers party to a collective agreement would have to discuss the implementation of such a leave with the union representing employees before introducing it into the workplace, she said. As for concerns about imple- menting a leave that is applicable to only a portion of the workforce, Deline said she is not aware of any restrictions within the ESA re- garding gender. And the Employment Stan- dards Act directly provides for pregnancy leave, which is appli- cable only to female employees, she said. Use discretion But introducing a leave that is only accessible to a portion of the workforce could alienate employ- ees who will not benefit from the change, said Lisa Kay, president and lead consultant at Toronto- based Peak Performance Human Resources. "How will that make other em- ployees feel, especially male coun- terparts who have other ailments they may be suffering from?" said Kay. "at needs to be handled re- ally well because it really does im- pact such a small demographic of people. Not all women suffer from severe pain or severe symptoms related to menstruation. It's not only women, it's only impacting a percentage of women. "I can't imagine that not be- coming an issue." Introducing such a policy would require significant sensi- tivity, said Kay. "Anything that an employer can offer to employees to show that they care, and to support them through a difficult period — no pun intended — is great," she said. "But from an HR perspective, this is a challenge. It's a bit of an awkward one. How many people will feel comfortable speaking up and letting their employer know that this is the issue in order to ac- cess that type of leave?" Beyond a potentially uncom- fortable conversation with a manager, fear could prevent em- ployees from taking advantage of menstrual leave, she said. "Female employees might face reprisal in some way, be per- ceived as weak or incapable or incompetent. I think that is a fear for employees and I think that is probably a fair fear. ere are a lot of managers who are under- standing but others will be less so," said Kay. "ose arguments continue to be an issue surrounding women in the workplace. ere are manag- ers that are sensitive to that and colleagues that are very sensitive to that and others who are very resentful." Ultimately, employers need to be responsive to the needs of all workers when considering men- strual leave. "e communication around it would have to be sensitive," said Kay. "Look at it on a case-by-case basis, based on medical evidence and based on accommodation. If somebody requires accommoda- tion — for whatever reason — make sure your employees know you have an open-door policy and are comfortable to speak with their manager if they need accom- modation for medical reasons." Physical issues Primary dysmenorrhea — the cramping and pain that occurs during menstruation — is the most common symptom suffered by women during their periods. Severe cramping, heavy bleed- ing, nausea and migraines are also associated with menstruation, said Erika Feuerstein, a physician with the Toronto-based Women's College Hospital. "Often the symptoms during the first day of the period are severe enough (to warrant time away from work)," she said. "It's not like women would take an entire week for their period. For most people, it would be that first day or two where the cramping, nausea or migraines are so severe they couldn't possibly function at work." e pain associated with men- struation is comparable to the suffering of an employee with any other chronic disease, said Feuerstein. "It's like any pain," she said. "If you have any pain, it's very hard to function. And for some, the men- strual pain is so severe, they can't even stand up. So it would be very hard to concentrate on any task that they had to do, and if they did do it, would it really be done to the best of their ability?" While the majority of women suffering from symptoms related to menstruation can treat them with pain medication or tools such as heating or cooling pads, period pain should be viewed by employers as a legitimate excuse from work for female employees, said Feuerstein. "There are people that their symptoms are so severe they couldn't go to work." Sensitivity needed with leave MENSTRUATION < pg. 1 Credit: Peter Power (Reuters) Google employee Dalya Gershtein, a software engineer, scales the climbing wall at Google's new Canadian engineering headquarters in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., in January. The idea of a menstrual leave for women was in the news recently after a China province started offering the benefit.

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