The Manitoba Human Rights Code and The AMA

The Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA) complements the Manitoba Human Rights Code and offers proactive ways to ensure accessibility for everyone, regardless of their abilities.

Two business people in an office with one person in a wheelchair

Reasonable Accommodation

Providing reasonable accommodation is a legal requirement and failure to reasonably accommodate an individual can result in “discrimination,” as defined in the Manitoba Human Rights Code.

Simply put, reasonable accommodation means adjusting a rule, policy, practice or a physical space to allow changes to the ways things are usually done.

Duty to Accommodate

In most cases, providing reasonable accommodation in customer service is simple and affordable. Reasonable accommodation requires a business or organization to take responsibility for an accommodation – including bearing the costs – up to the point of undue hardship. Undue hardship arises from substantial costs or health and safety risks to an accommodation. Inconvenience, preferences, or having to bear some costs do not usually qualify as undue hardship. Although undue hardship is not defined in the AMA or the Manitoba Human Rights Code, case law tells us that it is more than minimal hardship and it must be based on actual evidence of hardship.

If an accommodation request creates undue hardship for you and/or your organization, you and/or your organization still need to explore other ways to provide accessible customer service. Collaborate with the person making the request to find another way to provide customer service. With flexibility, openness, and good communication, accommodation solutions are usually possible, easy and inexpensive.

Accommodations are arrangements made to allow people with disabilities to participate or benefit equally. The Human Rights Code (Manitoba) requires that reasonable accommodations be made for people with disabilities up to the point of undue hardship. There is no set formula for what kind of modifications are necessary. Usually, this means a simple and inexpensive adjustment to how things are typically done. Examples include healthy snacks to accommodate dietary needs, or a flexible work schedule to accommodate Home Care or medication.
Sometimes, an accommodation becomes so difficult it becomes unreasonable, or an undue hardship. However, it is more than minimal hardship and it must be based on actual evidence of hardship and not merely assumptions about how hard it would be to accommodate a person’s special needs. For more information on undue hardship, please visit the Manitoba Human Rights Commission.