Temporary symptoms can qualify as disability requiring accommodation, protection
Since COVID-19, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has experienced a surge in the number of complaints filed, including those alleging discrimination based on a disability. But what exactly is a disability when it comes to the tribunal? In a recent decision, the tribunal provided helpful insight into this question.
First, however, it is important to understand the framework for making a successful discrimination complaint pursuant to the BC Human Rights Code. A complainant must demonstrate three factors:
They are a member of a protected group (this would include having a mental or physical disability).
They experienced adverse treatment.
There was a connection between the adverse treatment and being a member of a protected group.
In Anderson v. Spectrum Society for Community Living, 2025 BCHRT 80, the tribunal grappled with the question of whether the employee suffered from a disability as a result of an illness. This is an important question because the code does not define ‘disability.’ Rather, the tribunal interprets the term liberally to achieve the purposes of the code, which include the removal of barriers that people face in certain areas of daily life because of their disabilities. Those barriers may arise from actual functional limitations associated with a disability, or society’s perception of, or response to, the disability.
While the tribunal permits a...
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