The applicant, a customer service associate at a fitness centre, experienced pregnancy-related leg and foot pain that required her to alternate between sitting and standing.
She provided a medical note to her manager, who dismissed the possibility of placing a stool behind the counter due to alleged space and safety concerns without conducting any assessment.
Feeling she had no other option to preserve her health, the applicant requested reduced hours.
After learning of her right to accommodation, she requested reinstatement to full-time hours with accommodation, which the respondent denied, instead offering her the ability to sit at a nearby platform only during non-busy times.
The Tribunal found that the respondent failed in both its procedural and substantive duties to accommodate the applicant's pregnancy-related disability.
The respondent was ordered to pay lost wages, $10,000 for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect, and to require its management to complete human rights training.
