Human Rights and Equity Law

Renaud v. Central Okanagan School District

When the Central Okanagan School District refused to work out a schedule that would allow custodian Larry Renaud, a Seventh-day Adventist, to take Fridays evenings off work, he filed a human rights complaint against the employer and his union. He maintained that the employer discriminated against him based on religion and failed to accommodate him as required by the British Columbia Human Rights Act.

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal held that both the employer and the union had discriminated against Renaud. That decision was overturned by the B.C. courts. However, the Supreme Court of Canada restored the Tribunal's decision.

It held that an employer has an obligation to accommodate an employee to the point of undue hardship. The Court also held that trade unions have an obligation to cooperate in the search for accommodation, although their role in that regard is different from an employer's. It rejected the union's argument that it could not be required to adopt measures which conflict with the collective agreement until an employer has exhausted reasonable accommodations that do not affect the collective rights of employees.

The Canadian Labour Congress intervened in this appeal to provide guidance to the Court regarding a trade union's role in the workplace. The CLC was represented by Jeffrey Sack and Steven Barrett.

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