The complainant, a member of the World Wide Church of God, requested unpaid leave for Easter Monday to observe a holy day.
The employer refused due to busy Monday operations and terminated the complainant when he failed to report to work.
The Supreme Court of Canada held that the employer's attendance rule had an adverse discriminatory effect on the basis of religion.
The Court distinguished between direct and adverse effect discrimination, ruling that for the latter, the employer must accommodate the employee up to the point of undue hardship.
The employer failed to prove that accommodating the complainant's single absence would cause undue hardship, and the appeal was allowed.
