HR Glossary / Legislative Compliance / Undue Hardship

Undue Hardship

What is Undue Hardship?

Undue hardship generally means any action that requires significant or unreasonable financial costs or health and safety risks. Under human rights legislation, organizations have a duty to accommodate workers who experience discrimination to the point of undue hardship. Since every organization has unique circumstances, there is no defined standard. Generally, human rights legislation and government bodies recognize three factors when assessing undue hardship: the financial burden of providing an accommodation, the access to any external sources of funding (like grants), and whether there are significant health and safety risks associated with providing the accommodation. There is always some degree of hardship to expect when it comes to accommodations, but it is important to remember that the burden of proof is always on the employer.

We know that workplace accommodations can sometimes seem complicated. Fortunately, Citation Canada, formerly HRdownloads, can help! In our blogpost, How to Request Medical Information to Accommodate Employees, our HR experts clarify what you need to know about hardship and accommodation requests.

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