Workplace Accommodation and Return to Work Policy

Purpose

Everyone should be able to do their best work at NEO. This policy explains how we accommodate employees and job applicants, and how we support a safe return to work after an illness, injury or other absence. It applies the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) and, for work-related injuries, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 (WSIA).

Who it applies to

Employees and job applicants. We also accommodate independent-contractor paralegals and students on placement, consistent with the Human Rights Code. Accommodation for clients is covered by our Accessibility Policy and Accommodation in Legal Proceedings Policy.

Our duty to accommodate

NEO accommodates needs related to any ground in the Human Rights Code, to the point of undue hardship. Common examples are:

• disability, including mental health conditions and addictions, whether visible or not;
• creed, such as time for prayer or religious holidays;
• family status, such as caregiving responsibilities for a child or parent;
• sex, including pregnancy and breastfeeding;
• gender identity and gender expression.

Under the Code, undue hardship is judged only on cost, outside sources of funding, and health and safety requirements. Accommodation is a shared process: you tell us what you need, we work with you to find a solution that respects your dignity, and we both take part in good faith. The best solution is not always the one first asked for, but it must be effective.

How to ask

1. Tell the principal, in person or in writing, that you need an accommodation and what would help. You don't need to use any special words or form.
2. We respond promptly, talk with you about options, and may provide a temporary measure while we work out a longer-term one.
3. If someone seems to be struggling, the principal may ask, privately and respectfully, whether support would help.
4. We agree the accommodation with you and record it in a written individual accommodation plan, which also sets out when it will be reviewed. If we can't provide an accommodation, we tell you why in writing and keep looking for alternatives.

The AODA requires a written process for individual accommodation plans and a documented return-to-work process only from employers with 50 or more employees in Ontario. NEO follows both as good practice.

Medical and personal information

• We ask only for what we need to understand and meet your needs: generally, that you have a need related to a Code ground, your limitations or restrictions, whether you can do the essential duties with or without accommodation, and, if you are away, when you expect to return.
• We don't generally need your diagnosis, its cause, your symptoms or your treatment, unless they clearly relate to the accommodation or your needs are complex or unclear.
• If NEO asks for an assessment by an outside medical or other expert, NEO pays for it.
• We don't ask for a doctor's note to prove entitlement to the sick-leave days under the Employment Standards Act, 2000. Medical information may still be requested where it is needed for accommodation or a return to work.
• Health and accommodation information is kept confidential, apart from your general personnel file, and shared only with those who need it to put the accommodation in place, under our Employee Privacy and Personnel Records Policy.

Accessibility at work (AODA)

Under the AODA's Integrated Accessibility Standards, NEO:

1. tells employees and the public that accommodation is available for applicants with disabilities, and tells each applicant selected for an interview or assessment that accommodation is available on request;
2. tells successful applicants about our accommodation policies when we make a job offer, and tells new employees as soon as practicable after they start;
3. provides accessible formats and communication supports, on request, for information you need to do your job and information generally available to staff, after talking with you about what works;
4. provides individualized workplace emergency response information to employees whose disability makes it necessary, shares it, with consent, with anyone designated to help, and reviews it when the person's work location, accommodation plan or the firm's emergency procedures change;
5. takes accessibility needs and accommodation plans into account in performance reviews, career development and any reassignment of duties.

Returning to work after an absence

When you are away because of an illness, injury or disability, we:

1. stay in touch, at a pace that respects your recovery;
2. plan your return with you, using your individual accommodation plan, and with your health care provider's input on your abilities where it is needed;
3. consider a gradual return, modified duties or hours, remote work under our Remote and Hybrid Work Policy for Staff, or changes to equipment;
4. review the plan regularly and adjust it as your needs change.

Your job-protected leave rights are explained in our Vacation, Holidays and Leaves Policy.

After a work-related injury or illness

Report every work-related injury or illness as our Workplace Health & Safety and WSIB Policy explains. The firm reports to the WSIB as the WSIA requires. In addition:

• Day of injury. If you are entitled to WSIB benefits for the injury, the firm pays your wages and benefits for the day of the injury as if it had not happened. At the time of the injury, the firm also provides and pays for transportation to a hospital or doctor within a reasonable distance, or to your home, if you need it.
• Early and safe return to work. The WSIA requires the firm and the worker to co-operate: the firm contacts you as soon as possible and stays in touch during recovery, tries to offer suitable work that matches your functional abilities and, where possible, restores your pre-injury earnings, and gives the WSIB the information it asks for. You stay in touch with us, help identify suitable work, and give the WSIB the information it asks for. If we have difficulty working together on your return or disagree about it, either of us tells the WSIB, which tries to resolve it.
• Re-employment. The WSIA's formal obligation to re-employ an injured worker applies to employers who regularly employ 20 or more workers, for workers employed continuously for at least one year. Whether or not it applies, our duty to accommodate under the Human Rights Code continues.

We never discourage anyone from reporting an injury or making a WSIB claim.

No reprisal

No one is treated unfairly for asking for an accommodation, taking part in the process, or making a WSIB claim. If you believe your rights have not been respected, raise it with the principal, or use the options in our Workplace Violence and Workplace Harassment Policy and Program, including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

Review

This policy is reviewed at least once a year, and whenever the law changes. The principal approves every change.

Questions

Email info@neolegalservices.com, call 647-200-3526 or toll-free 888-519-2435, or write to us at Unit 236, 1099 Kingston Road, Pickering, Ontario L1V 1B5.