Human Rights

In Ontario, human rights law requirements for provincially-regulated employers are set out in the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Key points on the Ontario Human Rights Code include:

The Code is ‘quasi-constitutional’ legislation and therefore creates a high level of legislated protection against discrimination based on enumerated grounds in certain enumerated social areas.

The Code establishes protections for individuals from discrimination in the following protected social areas: (i) employment; (ii) housing; (iii) contracts; (iv) goods, services and facilities; and (v) membership in unions, trade or professional organizations.

The Code’s protected grounds of discrimination in employment are:

• Age

• Ancestry, colour, race

• Citizenship

• Ethnic origin

• Place of origin

• Creed

• Disability

• Family status

• Marital status (including single status)

• Gender identity, gender expression

• Record of offences

• Sex (including pregnancy and breastfeeding)

• Sexual orientation.

The Code applies to Provincially-regulated employers in Ontario, but does not apply to Federally-regulated employers in industries such as banking and telecommunications. However, Federally-regulated employers are subject to similar requirements under the Federal Canadian Human Rights Act.

Individuals whose protected rights under the Code have been breached may bring a complaint before the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and have the option of making a Court claim in certain cases.

Highlights of the Ontario Human Rights Code’s workplace requirements include:

Employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations of needs arising from protected grounds, to the point of undue hardship.

A reasonable accommodation composes both a procedural and a substantive element, meaning that an employer should arrive at an accommodation offer that is reasonable through a process that is fair, taking the employee’s input into consideration.

Employees are protected against both direct and indirect discrimination at the workplace such that even workplace rules and requirements intended to be neutral and non-discriminatory may result in a breach of the Code if those rules and requirements nevertheless result in a disproportionately adverse impact on a particular group along the lines of a protected ground (e.g., adversely impacting on people of a particular gender but not others).

Protected grounds may be broadly interpreted, including the protected ground of Creed (which protects a broad variety of sincerely-held beliefs) and the protected ground of disability (which includes protection for mental illnesses, including addictions at the workplace).

An employer accused of discrimination based on adverse treatment in the workplace (e.g., terminating an employee without cause) may need to demonstrate that an employee’s protected characteristic had no bearing on the adverse treatment in order to defend against a claim of discrimination. Discrimination contrary to the Code occurs even when a protected characteristic is one among many considerations that resulted in adverse treatment of an employee.

Human rights considerations must be balanced against other considerations and obligations while recognizing the quasi-constitutional status of the Code. For example, if a worker has an accident at the workplace due to intoxication, the employer’s response should balance both its obligation to maintain a healthy and safe workplace and its duty to accommodate an employee who may have a disability in the form of an addiction.

The contents of this page are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice.