A recent arbitration ruling, Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board v. Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association1, may result in an increase in claims for reimbursement from employees who need personal bodily assistive devices to perform the bona fide occupational requirements of their positions.
The Thunder Bay case involved a teacher who purchased new digital hearing aids and submitted a reimbursement request which the school board denied. The Association grieved the school board’s decision not to reimburse the teacher on the basis that she needed digital hearing aids to perform her duties.
In ruling that hearing aids are reasonable accommodation in the circumstances, Arbitrator Luborsky held that communicating effectively was a workplace standard on which the teacher’s performance would be evaluated.
While on its face, this decision appears to open the floodgates to claims for reimbursement for a variety of personal assistive devices (e.g. wheelchairs, eye glasses, etc.), it is important to note that there were a number of very specific factors which led to Arbitrator Luborsky’s ruling. Perhaps the most significant of which was that the grievor had medical evidence to show that the hearing aids were absolutely necessary for her to perform her specific job function.
Each case of this nature will be very fact specific and this case does not change the obligation that employers have always had -- to provide reasonable accommodation, not perfect accommodation. Nevertheless, this decision should create concern for employers and we will be following developments that may arise from it closely. Stay tuned!