March 29, 2007, 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EDT

Playback: Monday, April 2, 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. EDT

Tim Gleason

Union Counsel
Sack Goldblatt Mitchell

Noella Martin

Employer Counsel
Wickwire Holm

Sean McGee

Union Counsel
Nelligan O'Brien Payne

Fateh Salim

Employer Counsel
Ontario Ministry of Government Services, Legal Services

Carol Tooton

Executive Director
Canadian Mental Health Association, Nova Scotia Division

Addressing the need to accommodate employees with mental health issues, unions and employers find themselves at the intersection of discrimination, privacy, and occupational health and safety law. Lancaster House brings together a panel of experts to analyze the tough questions arising in mental health accommodation cases, including: 

• When does the duty to accommodate arise? Does bizarre or antisocial behaviour trigger a duty on the employer's part to inquire about the existence of a mental illness? Is the employer required to accommodate an employee with a mental illness where the employee denies disability?

• When is the union or the employee obligated to alert the employer to the existence of mental illness? What medical information is the employer entitled to in the accommodation process?

• In what circumstances can mentally ill employees be held out of service (e.g. if they go off their medication? If the job is safety-sensitive?) Can employers require mentally ill employees to undergo treatment as a condition of continued employment? Must an employee inform the employer of a relapse? Can the employer require co-workers to be alert to signs of a relapse and report it?

• How does the employer determine whether misconduct by an employee is a matter for discipline or the result of a disability that requires accommodation? In what circumstances does mental illness mitigate the culpability of an employee's misconduct?

• When can the employer insist on an independent medical or psychiatric examination? In what circumstances can employers require the examination to be performed by a doctor of its own choosing, instead of the employee's doctor or a doctor selected by agreement with the union? Is it a violation of an employee's privacy for the employer to contact the grievor's physician directly? Can arbitrators order a grievor to submit to a psychiatric examination either before or during the hearing?

• When will accommodating a mental illness result in undue hardship? What steps should the employer take in accommodating mental illness? What role does the union have? Must the employer restructure the job or modify the work environment to eliminate or reduce a stressor?

$195, plus GST (Registrations must be paid in advance of the audio conference). Registration costs are per listening site/telephone, so you can have any number of people listening at your location for one low price. Click here for registration information.