With Alberta report showing 36% rise in complaints, employment lawyers offer tips on how to avoid, address human rights issues
Over the past few years, the Alberta Human Rights Commission has worked to improve public access to its complaint process and promote human rights education across the province.
A major milestone was the launch of an online complaint form in September 2023, which was viewed over 23,500 times.
That could be one reason why the commission received 2,255 potential human rights complaints in 2023-24 — an increase of 36% from the previous year.
Plus, the number of hearings that proceed before the tribunal rose substantially from seven in 2018-19 to 31 in 2023-24. At the time of the report, 41 hearings were scheduled for 2024-25.
While another big reason for the rise in numbers could be explained by COVID vaccine cases working their way the system, the findings still mean a likely increase in legal fees for employers, says Cristina Wendel, partner at Dentons in Edmonton.
“Typically, employers .... will get counsel to represent their interests, whereas the complainants, a few will have their own counsel, but by and large, they're not represented by their own counsel, but they are represented in most cases, by counsel for the director.”
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