| Court tells employers to accommodate child-care requests A recent ruling by the Federal Court may have opened the door for Canadian workers to craft their own hours and conditions, regardless of how they would affect their employers.
The Canadian Press reports the Federal Court has ruled that employers are required to accommodate reasonable childcare-related requests from employees, siding with a previous Human Rights Tribunal decision.
»ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybre···246.html |
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| will employer's hesitate to hire women now....and will that also mean more suitable shifts, more unsuitable for those without children? |
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 Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON
kudos:3 | Men have childcare responsibilities as well. |
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 A Lurkerthat's Ms Lurker btwPremium
join:2007-10-27
Burlington, ON | said by Mike2009:Men have childcare responsibilities as well. Agreed, but employers don't usually consider that when interviewing. I work with someone who leaves early every Friday to pick up his kids (shared custody). I don't pay specific attention as we don't cover for each other. Also because if I do it would likely piss me off. He works 90 mins a week less than myself and a few other employees. I know it pisses off his closest coworker a lot.
His boss doesn't work in the same city (and I'm sure he knows), however, although he may think he makes up his time by taking shorter lunches, the rest of us at times work through our lunches and don't cut out early. I've seen this way more with women (and I'm sure it affects employer's attitudes when hiring). |
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resa1983Premium
join:2008-03-10
North York, ON
kudos:7 Reviews:
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| reply to jaberi
I can understand this ruling..
Its difficult enough as it is to get childcare.. Add in the uncertainty of when a shift is going to be (due to rotating shifts), and childcare suddenly may not be available when you absolutely need it.
With a job like that, you give your employer your availability due to them requiring 24/7 coverage (my husband's job is much the same way - he does wed, thurs, fri, sat nights, 40 hrs a week). The company has two options: follow the availability, or find a new employee. It looks like they attempted to follow the availability, but failed.
Some have said one of the parents should have found a different job. Unfortunately, most families these days aren't in a position financially to just quit without having another job lined up.
I know with my family, we absolutely *require* both of us working full time to make ends meet.
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| reply to jaberi
said by jaberi:A recent ruling by the Federal Court may have opened the door for Canadian workers to craft their own hours and conditions, regardless of how they would affect their employers.
Some important information that stands out to me in this article:
- This woman and her husband both had jobs working at Pearson International Airport and they didn't like their irregular shifts
- Woman complained
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She was offered stable, part-time work instead and later an adjusted schedule that still did not suit her fancy.
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She took the case to the Human Rights Tribunal, which sided with her. This week, the Federal Court agreed.
The wording may not open the door for a flood of cases:
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The courts and tribunals want to maintain discretion to look at every individual case. But the most important factor in determining undue hardship is probably going to be cost. A large company with more significant financial resources will probably be expected to be more flexible than a small business.
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The onus will remain on the employee to prove they have tried and failed to organize their obligations before seeking accommodation from their employer.
I agree with you jaberi, that this may make affect the hiring of women at larger companies. Canadian society has made great strides towards treating women as equal to me OH, hold on a second, women get to make their own hours after they have kids? Fuck that, I'm only hiring men. |
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 StyvasGolf Canucks GolfPremium
join:2004-09-15
Hamilton, ON | reply to A Lurker
said by A Lurker:said by Mike2009:Men have childcare responsibilities as well. Agreed, but employers don't usually consider that when interviewing. I work with someone who leaves early every Friday to pick up his kids (shared custody). I don't pay specific attention as we don't cover for each other. Also because if I do it would likely piss me off. He works 90 mins a week less than myself and a few other employees. I know it pisses off his closest coworker a lot. His boss doesn't work in the same city (and I'm sure he knows), however, although he may think he makes up his time by taking shorter lunches, the rest of us at times work through our lunches and don't cut out early. I've seen this way more with women (and I'm sure it affects employer's attitudes when hiring). Years ago someone told me that the difference between Russian and American motivation was as follows. If an American has 2 cows and his neighbour has 3, the American is motivated to work harder to have the same number as his neighbour or maybe even more. The Russian, in the same scenario, will kill one of their neighbour's cows so that both have the same number.
It seems to me that we have started killing a lot of our neighbours' cows. What changed? |
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| reply to jaberi
I used to hire recently separated/divorced guys.
They had no life outside of work, so they'd readily put in 12-14 hours per day programming for a long time. |
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StyvasGolf Canucks GolfPremium
join:2004-09-15
Hamilton, ON | said by MaynardKrebs:I used to hire recently separated/divorced guys.
They had no life outside of work, so they'd readily put in 12-14 hours per day programming for a long time.
Yeah, when I was single I'd find myself still at work after 12 or more hours, just puttering away on stuff. Now, I've got a wife and a life and I'm out the door at the end of the work day.
It's a life balance thing, and employers would be wise to recognize that accommodating that balance, even if it means small sacrifices like letting a guy go early to pick up his kids on a Friday, will lead to happier, more productive employees. |
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Viper359Premium
join:2006-09-17
Scarborough, ON Reviews:
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| reply to jaberi
Its people like her that drive me nuts. I am a shift worker, have been one for 15 years, with various employers. Always rotating shiftwork. About 5 years into shift work, my DR and I had a very real conversation about the effects of shiftwork on lifespan, and I needed to make some serious life choices. Which I did. I was floored when he told me that shiftwork, with bad diet, bad sleeping patterns etc can take 10-15 years off your life!!
Every company I have worked for, under a rotating shift work schedule, not only paid a shift premium to us, but was also very flexible with requests to leave a hour early, or arrive an hour late due to medical/dental appointments, child accommodation requests, a certain weekend off, etc. Almost every company I worked for under this sort of work schedule, spent buckets of money to educate us to proper eating and sleeping habits, giving us longer paid breaks on the midnight shift, providing free coffee and even food at some companies, turned a blind eye to things like personal calls at 9pm to say goodnight to your kids etc.
When I see a person like this, it drives me nuts, I feel as if she is trying to take even more!! It is also easier for a shift worker to deal with childcare issues, appointments etc, with enough notice. You can easily do things in the day, that a normal working person cannot. As the general 9-5 worker doesn't usually know how well we are treated at most jobs, unionized or not. I love shift work, because its always changing. You have shifts that are very slow, and give you time to catch up on your work, do other tasks, special projects etc, then you have your busy shifts. No matter what, I chose to be a shift worker at the end of the day. |
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peterboroAvatars are for posersPremium
join:2006-11-03
Peterborough, ON | She's a CBSA worker what do you expect. |
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resa1983Premium
join:2008-03-10
North York, ON
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I actually find it interesting that they say that smaller companies will have a harder time accommodating requests.
My office is 5 full time employees (including myself). 2 partners, 1 office manager/secretary, 1 jr accountant, 1 sr accountant. And during Jan-April we have 1 intern.
Despite being a small company, they were more than willing & able to accommodate any issues I have with childcare. They know I'll get the work done, despite needing to leave early, or not being able to stay late during tax season.
I would have figured that the larger the company, the more faceless the people are, so they're less likely to give a damn about personal circumstances.
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StyvasGolf Canucks GolfPremium
join:2004-09-15
Hamilton, ON | I would think that companies with an aggressive union would find this more difficult than those with none or with a more flexible one. While unions are focused on the needs of employees, it tends to be more on the collective needs at the expense of individual needs. |
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Viper359Premium
join:2006-09-17
Scarborough, ON Reviews:
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| Having worked in both unionized and non-union environments, I found them pretty much the same. It usually depends on each companies motto about employee's and corporate responsibility. At least from my experience. I had a 9-5 boss, who was responsible for all shift workers, total meathead, didn't want to give a inch, had no clue about anything other than the 9-5 operations, but, an HR director who was all about employees, work life balance, and healthy work places, and would frequently tell this director to go fly a kite. |
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 nitzguyPremium
join:2002-07-11
Sudbury, ON
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| reply to resa1983
said by resa1983:I actually find it interesting that they say that smaller companies will have a harder time accommodating requests.
My office is 5 full time employees (including myself). 2 partners, 1 office manager/secretary, 1 jr accountant, 1 sr accountant. And during Jan-April we have 1 intern.
Despite being a small company, they were more than willing & able to accommodate any issues I have with childcare. They know I'll get the work done, despite needing to leave early, or not being able to stay late during tax season.
I would have figured that the larger the company, the more faceless the people are, so they're less likely to give a damn about personal circumstances.
...I believe they are referring to a "Duty to accomodate" reference as part of Human rights.
Big companies can shell out big bucks (especially government agencies)...I can only imagine what will happen at my work...oy vey I can see it now...
Although I feel like its discrimination because I don't have custody of my child does that mean that I have to go through the rigors of shiftwork that truly sucks?
I don't know...anywho...interesting to see how this plays out. |
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| reply to jaberi
I have the feeling this will mostly come down to giving a few "family obligation days" a year and being flexible around shift scheduling to allow for picking kids up at daycare afterwards. Hardly world-ending things. Every employer should be required to accommodate this stuff. |
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 GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
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| reply to urbanriot
said by urbanriot:I agree with you jaberi, that this may make affect the hiring of women at larger companies. Canadian society has made great strides towards treating women as equal to me OH, hold on a second, women get to make their own hours after they have kids? Fuck that, I'm only hiring men. So then when a man leaves early or requests a scheduling accommodation to care for his kids, it's all fine and dandy? Are you saying it is only a problem when a woman does it? You are aware that in this modern world we live in, child rearing is typically a shared responsibility between both parents, not just the woman in the relationship, right?
You might want to clarify your position. |
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GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
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| reply to peterboro
said by peterboro:She's a CBSA worker what do you expect. I thought I'd just throw out there that there are plenty of CBSA employees who for whatever reason will find any excuse they can muster to get some sort of schedule accommodation rather than being stuck with shift work. "Stress" is the most obvious and popular one thrown around. Can't handle shift work? Claim "stress" and you're working 9-5 and someone else gets screwed over holding the bag.
The internals of that organization are so dysfunctional on so many levels that I wouldn't even know where to begin. |
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| reply to jaberi
At my company, half the time it's the men taking off a bit early to pick up their kids or staying home because one is sick, not the woman. |
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Viper359Premium
join:2006-09-17
Scarborough, ON Reviews:
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| reply to resa1983
I think that comment is geared more towards small shiftwork companies. 24/7 operations. Plumbers, electricians, elevator mechanics, convenience stores, gas stations etc.
Even then, I am not sure this will have any wide reaching implications, as this could be total bull, and just perceived, rather than truth, but from all my years, in several industries, I have found shift workers for a large part, are still male dominated. Of course, there are females, but, if I made a guess, I would say 90% male, 10% female, with exceptions of course, like nurses, police dispatchers etc.
The reason I say this might not have any major implication is because, from my experience, with shiftwork still being male dominated, its more of a suck it up and deal with it mentality. |
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