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Emplo
y
ment Law Today
Canad ad a ian
www.employmentlawtoday.com
July 19, 2017
Court dismisses discrimination
complaint over IME request
Request for independent medical examination reasonable
if necessary to meet duty to accommodate: Tribunal, court
BY JEFFREY R. SMITH
AN ONTARIO employer's request for an
employee on medical leave to undergo an
independent medical examination before
returning to work when it had doubts about
the medical information it had was reason-
able, the Ontario Divisional Court has ruled.
Marcello Bottiglia was a teacher hired
by the Carleton Roman Catholic Separate
School Board in 1975. e school board
became the Ottawa Catholic School Board
(OCSB) in 1998 and the following year Bot-
tiglia became superintendent of schools for
the OCSB.
As superintendent, Bottiglia was respon-
sible for implementing, reviewing and eval-
uating the curriculum, overseeing commu-
nity education programs, and supervising
three families of schools. It was a busy job
and Bottiglia often worked into the evening.
Supreme Court upholds dismissal
of employee addicted to cocaine
Top court deems human rights tribunal`s fi nding that worker`s
addiction wasn`t a factor in dismissal reasonable
BY NORM KEITH
IN PERHAPS the most important human
rights decision to date dealing with drugs
in the workplace, the Supreme Court of
Canada recently ruled that an employer may
terminate a worker for just cause when he
violated a fi tness for duty policy by attend-
ing work under the infl uence of drugs. e
Supreme Court ultimately upheld the ruling
of the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal that
the employer did not unlawfully discrimi-
nate when a worker was terminated.
Ian Stewart worked in a mine operated
by the Elk Valley Coal Corporation near the
Cardinal River in Alberta, driving a loader.
e mine operations were dangerous, and
maintaining a safe worksite was a matter of
great importance to Elk Valley and its em-
ployees. To ensure safety, the company im-
plemented a policy requiring that employees
CREDIT:
DEDMITYAY/SHUTTERSTOCK
Bad relations with co-workers
and managers not
constructive dismissal pg. 3
Worker had anxiety but poor
relationships not harassment
Ontario workers rise up — or do they?
pg. 4
The Ontario government's proposal
for the modern workplace and what it means
for millennials
with Meghan McCreary
WORKER FIRED on page 8 »
DUTY
on page 11 »
ASK AN EXPERT pg. 2
Terminated workers
fi nding new jobs quickly
