The Duty to Accommodate in Employment: Applying the Principles of Accommodating Disabilities to the Accommodation of Age

Employees are increasingly working beyond traditional retirement age. In Canada this is due in part to a shift toward prohibiting mandatory retirement policies. However, impairments arising from aging may prevent workers from performing their duties. This book examines the employer?s duty to accommodate aging workers under Canadian human rights legislation. First the author thoroughly examines the case law regarding the duty to accommodate disability in order to determine how courts and tribunals balance employer and employee rights in disability cases. Then the author analyses how the duty to accommodate should apply to aging workers, emphasizing why the duty may apply differently to age than to disability. It is proposed that the duty to accommodate be narrower in respect of age than disability.