If an employee has disclosed a disability to the organisation and asks for accommodations, the employer has a legal responsibility to accommodate to the point of undue hardship. Undue hardship is defined as a non-trivial cost to the employer that puts an unnecessary burden on the business to accommodate. Undue hardship has no set formula as it is business by business and case by case specific. Some factors when determining undue hardship are:

  • Financial cost
  • Disruption of a collective agreement
  • Risk of problems with other employees
  • Size of the business and interchangeability of the workplace
  • The health and safety risks attached to the accommodation

For more information, you can read NEADS’ Duty to Accommodate and Disclosure in Employment.