HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD

FAILURE TO ACCOMMODATE LEADS TO HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD

PUBLIC SERVICE LABOUR RELATIONS BOARD

BETWEEN: NATHALIE CYR, Grievor

AND:

TREASURY BOARD

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES & SKILLS DEVELOPMENT, Employer

Project Manager, Nathalie Cyr, works in the Department of Human Resources and Skills

Development, Service Canada. In February 2007 Ms Cyr filed a grievance alleging her

employer had harassed and discriminated against her and failed in its duty to put in place and

maintain accommodations to address her physical limitations due to environmental

hypersensitivity she acquired.

Ms Cyr was relatively healthy until she was transferred to her new workplace location in 2004.

One month after working there, she started to feel tired, had headaches and sinus pain one

hour after she would arrive at work but the symptoms would disappear when she left. She

requested and was permitted to work from home as a teleworker and only return to her

workplace a few times a week. Eventually, she was requested to return to full-time

employment at her workplace which led her to filing a grievance in 2007.

On March 22, 2011 her grievance was allowed and the employer was ordered to pay Ms Cyr,

within 60 days:

• $8,000 for pain and suffering she experienced;

• $10,000 as a special award pursuant to subsection (53(3) of the Canadian Human
Rights Act; and

• $300 for the medical certicate.File No. 566-02-2173

Citation: 2011 PSLrB 35