Canadian employers are drowning in a rising tide of vague, two-line doctor’s notes that say nothing and demand everything. Far too many physicians will scribble whatever their patient requests, leaving employers to navigate the legal minefield of accommodation with no real information.
This trend doesn’t just trivialize the struggles of employees with legitimate medical needs. It forces employers into a legal obstacle course, where a single misstep in the accommodation process can lead to costly human rights complaints or wrongful dismissal claims.
But employers forget a crucial point: employees are not entitled to perfect accommodation or to the accommodation they prefer. The law requires only reasonable accommodation up to the point of undue hardship to the employer but based on actual limitations, not on a doctor’s rubber stamp and certainly not to the employee’s idealized vision of a redesigned job.
Accommodation is not a one-sided exercise. Employees have their own legal obligations. They must cooperate in the process and provide a reasonable amount of information about their disability-related needs. A cryptic doctor’s note saying “cannot work” doesn’t cut it.
If the information provided is too vague for an employer to understand what limitations actually exist, the employer is not expected to guess. They are entitled — and in many cases required — to ask for additional information to understand what duties the employee can and cannot perform. It is called asking...
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