Federal Court of Appeal Affirms Decision that Employers Must Accommodate Employees' Childcare Obligations

On May 2, 2014, the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed that employers have a legal obligation to accommodate their employees' “childcare obligations” as a component of their duty to accommodate an employee’s “family status.”

In its decisions in the parallel cases of Canada (Attorney General) v. Johnstone, 2014 FCA 110 (CanLII) and Canadian National Railway v. Denise Seeley and Canadian Human Rights Commission the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed that the definition of “family status” in the Canadian Human Rights Act includes “parental obligations.”

For more on the Federal Court of Appeal’s ruling, see the earlier post on this blog Employers Must Accommodate Parents - What It Means .

For more cases on the Duty to Accommodate, look at this blog’s index by topic on the subject of The Duty to Accommodate.

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As always, everyone’s situation is different. The above is not intended to be legal advice for any particular situation. It is always prudent to seek professional legal advice before making any decisions with respect to your own case.