Ontario Human Rights Commission and O'Malley v. Simpsons-Sears Ltd.
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| Ontario Human Rights Commission and O'Malley v. Simpsons-Sears Ltd. | |||||||||
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| Hearing: January 29, 1985 Judgment: December 17, 1985 |
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Chief Justice: Brian Dickson |
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| Reasons given | |||||||||
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Unanimous reason by: McIntyre |
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Ontario Human Rights Commission and O'Malley v. Simpsons-Sears Ltd., [1985] 2 S.C.R. 536 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision where the Court first acknowledged the existence of indirect discrimination through conduct that creates prejudicial effect.
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[edit] Background
Theresa O'Malley was a Seventh-day Adventist who was employed by Simpsons-Sears. As part of her religion she was forbidden from working from sundown Friday to sundown on Saturday. There were no full-time shifts available that did not require work on Friday and Saturday and so they terminated her employment.
The Sears argued that by requiring all their employees to work Fridays and Saturdays they were not intentionally trying discriminate against her. Rather it was a neutral requirement they imposed on all employees.
The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the requirement that all employees work on Friday and Saturday was discriminatory against her religion.
[edit] Opinion of the Court
Justice McIntyre, writing for a unanimous Court, held that Simpons-Sears had discriminated against O'Malley. Despite the reasonable basis for the requirement the company did not try to make any changes to the work schedule to accommodate O'Malley's religious requirements.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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