Lawyer defends firm's decision to dismiss worker with bipolar disorder
Last Updated: Friday, December 21, 2007 | 4:35 AM ET
CBC News
An Ottawa company deemed by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to have discriminated against a mentally disabled employee did "everything appropriate in the circumstances" to comply with human rights legislation before dismissing the worker, said the company's lawyer.
Stephen Bird, who represents ADGA Group Consulting Inc., said the company discussed employee Paul Lane's condition with him after he revealed that he had bipolar disorder and researched the condition on the internet before making the decision to dismiss him.
According to the written human rights tribunal ruling, what managers learned convinced them that Lane, who was hired to test artillery software for a Department of National Defence contract, would not be able to meet the rigours of a stressful job with tight deadlines.
"There are several tests with respect to a case of discrimination. The ultimate one for an employer is accommodation to the point of undue hardship," Bird said. "ADGA is not saying that we should not be held to that standard — simply, that we met that standard."
The company is appealing an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decision issued in October that ordered ADGA to pay Lane $80,000 in damages and hire a consultant to help devise a policy that would enable the company to hire people with mental disabilities.
The appeal will be heard in an Ontario divisional court next year.
Not only does the company believe the tribunal erred in its decision, but Bird alleges that it also over-stepped its jurisdiction in the way it handled evidence in the case.
For example, the tribunal heard from experts on bipolar disorder who didn't even know Lane, he argued during the case.
"The evidence should either not have been accepted at all, or should have been accepted for very limited purposes," he said.
Bird also said the Ontario Human Rights Commission has no legal ability to force ADGA to develop a policy that would help the company hire people with mental disabilities.
Meanwhile, Lane said he thinks ADGA overreacted to a manageable illness that it could have accommodated.
"I don't think it would have been that hard for them," he said. "They were worried I was going to be away for extended periods of time, which wouldn't be the case."
