This webtip focuses on the employer's duty to accommodate individuals with disabilities and the process that should be followed to meet this duty under the Ontario Human Rights Code 1990. This tip provides an overview of the process, the questions that should be asked and the accommodation methods that should be considered. This web tip covers the roles of each of the stakeholders in the duty to accommodate.

Recently there has been increasing numbers of arbitrations and decisions which have guided our gathering of information when planning return to work. Gowan Health will provide a few pointers for you to examine in order to ensure that your processes are transparent and clear. This webtip will provide tips for communicating in return to work.

This document provides ways that employers can manage employee mental health issues in the workplace. It will provide strategies and tips of managing mental health in order to improve productivity.

This webtip provides research and practical reasons why an employer would recruit and retain individuals with disabilities. This will assist in the support of an employer's duty to accommodate individuals with disabilities in the workplace.

To recognize the combination of these two events Gowan Health is providing you with some information about the Occupational Therapy Role and mental illness at the workplace in the attached PDF document prepared by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. This webtip provides information on mental illness and how occupational therapists can assist individuals with mental illnesses in the workplace.

Our last two web tips have sent you details of decisions coming from the Supreme Court of Canada which appear to balance the employer rights and employee responsibilities. The Supreme Court as you know is the highest level of decision making that we have in Canada. Their decisions shape the way that other judicial bodies and organizations examine accommodation. This webtip focuses on the latest legal decisions with respect to duty to accommodate individuals with disabilities in the workplace.

On June 27, 2008 the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its decision in the landmark case of Honda Canada Inc. v. Keays, 2008, SCC 39. In this case a wrongfully dismissed employee who suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome was awarded a record $500,000 in punitive damages by an Ontario Superior Court judge, an amount later reduced to $100,000 by the Court of Appeal. On appeal, the Supreme Court overturned the lower court's award of aggravated (Wallace-type) and punitive damages.

On July 17 2008 the Supreme Court of Canada released another decision that helps define the scope of an employer's duty to accommodate. Hydro-Québec v. Syndicat des employé-e-s de techniques professionnelles et de bureau d'Hydro-Québec, section locale 2000 (SCFP-FTQ). This webtip provides an overview of the case and strategies for employers to meet their duty to accommodate.

This webtip focuses on the research associated with participatory ergonomics. It provides strategies for ensuring that ergonomics strategies include employees in decision making when applying solutions in musculoskeletal injuries.

This webtip covers the statistics and research surrounding sleep and safety in the workplace. There is a connection between lack of sleep and workplace accidents. Strategies to reduce the impact of shiftwork and sleep disruption on the workplace health and safety program.