Solution to MGMT1601 Employment Law Assignment - Bow Valley College

This document presents a solution to an employment law assignment, likely for the MGMT1601 course at Bow Valley College. It addresses issues related to the Alberta Human Rights Act, specifically concerning an employee with cancer and the employer's duty to accommodate. The solution discusses the legal implications of discrimination based on disability, the concept of undue hardship for small businesses, and the possibility of revising an employee's pay scale when duties are significantly altered due to accommodation. The document references the Alberta Human Rights Commission and relevant academic articles to support its analysis. Desklib provides access to this document, offering students a valuable resource for understanding employment law concepts and assignment assistance, including access to past papers and solved assignments.

28 November 2018
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Business Law

BUSINESS LAW 1
The answer to Question 1
In the given scenario, the nail technician of the spa is undergoing illness of cancer.
She shares her concern in the form of the use of certain chemicals thereby resulting in nausea
and psychological impacts on her health. In addition, she is concerned about her deteriorating
physical illness, which is proving to be hindrances in the fulfilment of her professional duties.
The employment law issues involved in the given scenario are mainly concerned
around the human rights as defined in the Alberta Human Rights Act (AHR Act). The act
recognizes the equality of the employees on the lines of the duties, responsibilities, and the
dignity, irrespective of the physical disabilities, mental disabilities, colour, race, age, gender,
marital status, the source of income, and more (AHRC, 2018). The act recognizes cancer as a
physical disability, in addition to other diseases such as heart conditions, drug dependence,
and many more.
The technician is willing to keep her job, which is proving not to be feasible from the
business point of view. However, it would be illegal on the part of the employer to
discriminate the technician employee based on cancer. Thus, if the employer chooses to
terminate or lay off the employee on above-mentioned grounds of disability, sever legal
liabilities may be incurred (Adams, 2016). It is significant to note that even if there were a
presence of the legitimate business reasons, such as non-fulfilment of the professional duties,
still if the decision is even slightest based on cancer, it would be regarded as discrimination.
In addition, the Alberta Human Rights Act recognizes the provision of the
accommodation, whereby some changes are introduced in the rules, workplace cultures,
physical environments and more to ensure the non-occurrence of the negative impacts on a
person‘s disability in terms of the mental or physical illness. Thus, in the circumstances like

BUSINESS LAW 2
above, it is the duty of the employer to take the reasonably possible steps to provide the
accommodation to the technician, to the point of the undue hardship.
The answer to Question 2
As discussed above, to make the assessment of the point of undue hardship, various
cost of the modification of the premises, or the equipment is computed. From the perspective
of a small business, it would be necessary to check that the undue hardships do not disrupt the
business operations and revenues (Harder, 2016). Thus, in the case of the small businesses
the provision for accommodation is simple and affordable as compared to the large
organizations, where it is mandatory and complex. As a result, the small business can even
provide for the partial accommodation and fulfil the requirements of the act.
The answer to Question 3
While providing for the accommodation, if the employer assesses that, the duties of
the technician would be reduced to a great extent, or are changed in a significant manner, the
employer may decide to revise the pay scale of such employee (Banks, 2016). Thereby, the
risk of the legal claims as well as the liability of the employer would both be reduced.

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References
Alberta Human Rights Commission. (2018). Duty to accommodate. Retrieved from:
https://www.albertahumanrights.ab.ca/publications/bulletins_sheets_booklets/
bulletins/Pages/duty_to_accommodate.aspx
Adams, E. M. (2016). Human rights at work: Physical standards for employment and human
rights law. Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism, 41(6), S63-S73.
Harder, H. G. (2016). Human Rights and Duty to Accommodate in Employment:
Perspectives from Canada. In Disability Management and Workplace Integration (pp.
86-100). Routledge.
Banks, K. (2016). Reasonable accommodation as equal opportunity in Canadian employment
law.