Accommodating working parents

HR Professionals will come across scenarios where working parents will need to be accommodated (ie. returning from maternity or parental leave). The following article describes how to best set up policies in order to protect your company from discrimination cases.

Key points to remember:
- What does employment standards require? (ie. employees returning from maternity leave must be given an equivalent position to the one they left).
- Has the company established a precedent? (To change the employee's conditions now could be construed as constructive dismissal).

Key Terms
This week’s HR terminology includes:

Alternative work arrangement: Non-traditional work arrangement such as flextime and a compressed work week that provide staff more flexibility while still achieving operational goals.

Constructive dismissal: Occurs when there is a significant change in the employment relationship without the employee’s actual or implied consent and the employee resigns within a reasonable time after learning of the changes.

Prima facie case: Latin for “at first view” or “at first appearance,” a prima-facie case is a lawsuit that requires an employer to articulate a reason that sufficiently proves that any decision or action taken was made based on legitimate and nondiscriminatory factors

Reasonable accommodation: A modification or adjustment to a job or work environment that enables a qualified individual with a disability to have equal employment opportunity.

Undue hardship: Condition created when making a reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities that imposes significant difficulty or expense on an employer.