Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario
BETWEEN:
Kimberley Brosseau Applicant
-and-
Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board and Hamilton-Wentworth Elementary Teachers’ Local Respondents
INTERIM DECISION
Adjudicator: Douglas Sanderson Date: November 18, 2013 Citation: 2013 HRTO 1905 Indexed as: Brosseau v. Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board
APPEARANCES
Kimberley Brosseau, Applicant Wade Poziomka, Counsel
Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, Respondent Jane Gooding, Counsel
Hamilton-Wentworth Elementary Teachers’ Local, Respondent Kate Hughes, Counsel
1This is an Application filed under s. 34 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended (the “Code”), alleging discrimination with respect to employment because of disability and family status.
The Application
2The applicant is an elementary teacher with the respondent School Board (the “Board”) and is represented by the respondent union (the “Union”). In the Application, the applicant states that she began a medical leave in January 2009 because she was suffering from anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by incidents of violence at work. The applicant states that she began the process of returning to work in the fall of 2010. The parties agreed that the applicant would benefit from a period of “work hardening”, including a period of volunteer work. The parties met on several occasions in the fall of 2010 and agreed that the applicant would begin volunteering at Holbrook Elementary School (“Holbrook”) in January 2011. The applicant states that working at this school met her medical needs,