The employer posted a position for a personal care attendant but rejected a female union member's application because it had determined a male was needed for the intimate personal care of elderly male residents.
The collective agreement contained a no-discrimination clause without a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) exception, whereas the provincial Human Rights Code included a BFOQ provision.
An arbitration board held that the employer could rely on the BFOQ provision, finding that the parties could not contract out of the Code.
The Supreme Court of Canada held that while parties can contract out of human rights legislation to provide greater protection, the arbitration board's interpretation that the collective agreement should be read in harmony with the Code's BFOQ provision was not patently unreasonable.
The appeal was dismissed.
