View cases - Stewart McKelvey

36[165] Dr. Duxbury was asked by CHRC counsel whether an organization’s impressionistic fearover great numbers seeking the same accommodation is well-founded. She responded in thenegative because there are a range of people in or at a range of life cycle places with differingneeds at any given time. Dr. Duxbury stated that her experience shows that people will generallyuse the accommodations they need and not misuse them. Her comment was that generally we“don’t give people enough credit”.[166] As women make up 47% of Canada’s workforce presently, Dr. Duxbury stated that unlessaccommodations are made for working women when their children are young, there will be fewerwomen available in the workforce or society will suffer from their choice to have fewer or nochildren.2010 CHRT 20 (CanLII)[167] Under cross-examination, Dr. Duxbury was challenged on the applicability of herdatabase statistics to the present case. This Tribunal found that it was clear that Dr. Duxbury’sdata came from a broad range of workers from all sectors in many different job and careerpositions, who were asked a broad range of questions that addressed the workplace itself andattitudes toward the workplace.[168] Further, Dr. Duxbury made it clear that she was not suggesting that poor employees berewarded, rather, that good management and employers who do not silo employee groups offfrom one another, benefit. She stated that treating each employee the same does not necessarilyequate with fairness, as people and their needs are not the same. Some flexibility and individualassessment is appropriate and manageable.[169] In summary, Dr. Duxbury is stating that as a general framework for the workplace, goodmanagement and a supportive workplace culture is a win/win combination for both employersand employees.[170] In the context of a workplace with rotational shifts, Dr. Duxbury acknowledges that shiftwork of this type is more problematic for employees, however some of the unpredictability can bealleviated by sufficient notice and the ability to trade shifts with colleagues. This adds to a