Does an employer have a duty to inquire about the health of an employee?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Principe v. Stong's Markets (No. 2), 2009 BCHRT 81 (CanLII):
However, it is a well established tenet of human rights law that, once an employer is on notice of a disability or anything that may lead to a reasonable understanding of a medical condition, they have a duty to inquire when any issue that may be related to the disability arises in the performance of job duties. As outlined by the Tribunal in Gardiner v. Ministry of Attorney General, 2003 BCHRT 41: A Respondent’s failure to make inquiries regarding the health of an employee before taking steps that adversely affect the employee’s employment situation, where the Respondent has a reason to suspect that a medical condition may be impacting the employee’s ability to work, has been found to be discriminatory in certain circumstances.
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