A Canada Border Services Agency officer who had to give up her full-time position after the birth of her first child has won a six-year battle with her employer over its failure to accommodate her.

In a decision handed down on Friday, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal said the federal agency discriminated against Fiona Johnstone and employees like her who seek accommodation based on family status.

Johnstone had been working a variety of shifts as a full-time officer at Pearson Airport in Toronto and had a good record with her employers when she had her first child in 2003.

Both before going on maternity leave and before returning to work in 2004, Johnstone had asked her employer if she could come back on an altered schedule, one in which she worked three static 13-hour shifts a week, with no preferred start time.

The unusual schedule was suggested so that she could care for her child on the four days she could not find available child care, while at the same time working the weekly hours needed to maintain her status as a full-time employee and retain her maximum pension.

Johnstone said because of the unpredictable shifts of the job, public or private child-care options were not available, but that she had found three days in which family members could care for her child.

She also suggested a three-day, 12-hour-shift schedule, which would have dropped her to part-time status but would have had a minimal impact on her pension.

Employer had accommodated others

Her employer denied the requests, saying the Canadian Border Services Agency had an unwritten policy not to provide full-time hours to those requesting accommodation on the basis of child-rearing responsibilities. The agency came back with an alternative schedule of three days of 10-hour shifts and one day of a four-hour shift.

Johnstone argued that the agency has and continues to accommodate employees for medical and religious reasons or in the event of medical reasons involving children.

"When I asked for clarification on the policy and when I asked to come back full time they told me I couldn't and there was no reason given that was good enough," said Johnstone, who has since moved to Ottawa after her husband, also a Border Services officer, was transferred in 2007.

The tribunal agreed, saying that the agency didn't establish a strong enough case that altering the schedule to accommodate Johnstone would have constituted an undue hardship for the employer and other workers.

Decision will aid workers: PSAC head

The federal agency was ordered to pay $35,000 in general and special damages for pain and suffering, as well as lost wages and benefits from 2004 to the present arising from her loss of full-time status, plus interest.

John Gordon, the national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the umbrella labour group that includes Johnstone's union, said the decision sets a precedent for future cases.

"We've now got something from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that talks particularly about the duty to accommodate with respect to family rights," said Gordon. "I think that's going to help a lot of people down the road."

Johnstone, who has been on unpaid child-care leave since 2008, said she is just glad the ordeal is over and the decision was in her favour.

"I have always had faith that the truth would win out so I wasn't shocked," said Johnstone. "It was just more of a relief."

The CBSA has 30 days to appeal the ruling.

With files from Omar Dabaghi-Pacheco