'It gets tricky fast': benefits lawyer outlines legal pitfalls of HR offering – or not offering – weight loss drugs in Canada

As Canadian employers contemplate the cost of adding Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs to their employee benefits programs, an employment lawyer has a warning: excluding the drugs to cut costs may be tempting, but it could also open them up to human rights discrimination claims.

“Ozempic and the weight loss ones are at a risk of creating cost issues, not just because of their per unit cost, but because … we now have this sort of floodgate concern,” says Natasha Monkman, partner at Hicks Morley in Toronto.

“Whether or not that actually turns out to be a legitimate concern, I think, is going to vary by your employer [and] workplace demographic.”

Recent studies highlight the growing adoption of weight-loss medications by employers; a 2024 survey by Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab found that about 10% of Canadians (up to 1.4 million) have used Ozempic-type drugs to manage Type 2 diabetes and weight loss.

According to a Mercer survey, 44% of U.S. employers with 500 or more employees covered weight-loss drugs in 2024, up from 41% in 2023. Among employers with over 20,000 employees, 64% offered coverage, compared to 56% the previous year.

Legal implications of weight loss drug exclusions

According to Monkman, a significant legal concern for Canadian employers offering GLP-1 drugs can arise when they start wanting to cut costs.

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