Mr. Gaisiner had been discriminated against and was ultimately terminated on the basis of his disability.  He came to Franklin Law for help, and Ron Frankin represented him at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.  After several days of hearing, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario rendered its decision in Gaisiner v. Method Integration Inc. (Alocet Incorporated) and found in Mr. Gaisiner’s favour.  The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario awarded Mr. Gaisiner $10,000.00 in general damages, and ordered the employer to hire an expert in human rights to assist it in creating a human rights policy and training its employees.

This case is important for a number of reasons.  It shows that employees whose human rights have been violated can and do win hard fought victories at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.  It also reinforces the benefits of employees working with lawyers who truly care about human rights law, understand how to argue human rights cases, and are not afraid to take a case all the way to a hearing if necessary.

Perhaps most importantly, it has educational value for both employees and employers.  In finding that Mr. Gaisiner had been terminated on the basis of his disability contrary to the Human Rights Code, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario emphasized that employers have a duty to accommodate employees with disabilities to the point of undue hardship.  It also reinforced the principle that the duty to accommodate has procedural and substantive components.  The procedural component focuses on what inquiries the employer made to better understand how it might accommodate an employee whose disability adversely affected his or her ability to do his or her job.  The substantive component focuses on what accommodations the employer implemented to help the employee overcome any work-related barriers.  To review the decision, please click here. For more information about Franklin Law please click here.