Worker’s Knee Injury Wasn’t a Factor in His Termination

A warehouse worker fell through a wooden board about four feet to the ground and injured his knee. About a month later, he was fired. He claimed disability discrimination. When the worker was fired, he was fit to work. And the employer wasn’t aware of any restrictions on his abilities. But it was losing trust in him due to his speaking about a “confidential” settlement in a prior human rights lawsuit; lying to his doctor about the nature of the fall; lying to the company president that the WSIB didn’t want to see the security tape of the fall; and providing inconsistent information about his health. In addition, the worker had lost his temper several times and was only fired after a threatening outburst. Thus, the Human Rights Tribunal ruled that disability played no role in the decision to fire him [Edmondson v. Alumpro Building Products Inc., [2012] O.H.R.T.D. No. 1045, May 23, 2012].