Human Rights A Day

Workplace collective agreements must be based on human rights legislation, Canadian Supreme Court rules. When Joanne O’Brien went on maternity leave before she’d completed her probationary work period at Parry Sound, Ontario’s social services administration board, she returned to find herself fired. That was 1998. She complained to a labour board, which ruled that her employer had violated her rights under Ontario’s human rights code. After further appeals, on September 18, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that under Ontario law, a labour board is responsible for spelling out human rights and other employment-related laws in their collective agreement. This established human rights legislation as the basis on which employers must build employer/employee agreements, whether or not the rights they promise are written into their collective agreements. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.