City’s Efforts to Accommodate Worker Cut Short by Her Resignation

A city bus driver developed environmental urticaria, i.e., hives, and went out on disability. Her doctors later cleared her to return to work. She notified the city and was told she could resume work as an LRT operator. She quit because she didn’t feel she could work without presenting a danger to herself and others and didn’t think she had other options. She then sued for disability discrimination, arguing the city failed to accommodate her. The Human Rights Commission disagreed. The city tried to accommodate the worker by offering her a position as an LRT operator. If she didn’t think that was an appropriate option, she should’ve submitted medical information and participated in the accommodation process. Instead, she pre-empted that process by resigning. And her belief that she was being forced to drive a bus without restrictions was unreasonable [Robinson v. City of Edmonton, [2013] AHRC 2 (CanLII), Jan. 14, 2013].