b'NEW ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDFOR EMPLOYMENTBy Melissa BeaumontTThe Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA) was created to achieve an accessible society for all Manitobans disabled by a barrier. Over time, a number of standards will be enacted under the AMA to create accessibility obligations for organizations in areas such as customer service, employment, information and communications, the built environment and transportation. On May 1, 2019, the Accessible Employment Standard Regulation came into force. It creates a general obligation on all employers to implement policies and practices to reasonably accommodate employees who are disabled by a barrier in the workplace. Specific highlights of the Accessible Employment Standard include: Employers must tell job applicants that reasonableaccommodation is available during therecruitment process.When offering employment, employers must inform successful applicants of the employers accommodation policies.While this means that many businesses will have three Employers must ensure that all performanceyears to develop a compliance plan, it is never too early tomanagement and career development processes takestart. We would be happy to assist you in developing your accessibility into account.accessible employment policies. Any employees responsible for recruiting, P.S.The Accessible Customer Service Standard createssupervising or managing employees must receive an obligation for all organizations to provide accessible accommodation training.customer service. It had a compliance deadline of November Employers must establish return to work policies,1, 2018. Did you miss it? Find out more about it in myoffer individual communication supports (like makingprevious article: tdslaw.com/resource/did-you-miss-the-documents available in accessible formats) and createnovember-1-2018-deadline-to-implement-a-customer-individualized accommodation plans upon requestservice-accessibility-policy/from the employee. This article is presented for informational purposes only. Employers must tailor emergency response plans to employees who may face special risks due to aThe content does not constitute legal advice or solicitation disability and, with the employees permission, shareand does not create a solicitor client relationship. The views that information with someone in the organization whoexpressed are solely the authors and should not be attributed agrees to help that employee during an emergency.to any other party, including Thompson Dorfman Sweatman Employers with 50 or more employees mustLLP (TDS), its affiliate companies or its clients. The authorsdocument their accessible employment policiesmake no guarantees regarding the accuracy or adequacy of and practices in writing, which must include a policythe information contained herein or linked to via this article. as to how the organization will create individualThe authors are not able to provide free legal advice. accommodation plans for employees.While care is taken to ensure the accuracy for the purposes Compliance with this standard will be phased in over thestated, before relying upon these articles, you should seek next several years:and be guided by legal advice based on your specific All employers must meet the emergency response circumstances. We would be pleased to provide you with our plan requirement by May 1, 2020.assistance on any of the issues raised in these articles.Government must comply with all other requirementsby May 1, 2020.Melissa Beaumont is a Partner at Thompson Dorfman Sweatman. She practises in the areas of labour and Public sector employers and large municipalities must comply with all other requirements by May 1, 2021.employment law and human rights law. She has experience Private sector employers (including non-profits)providing advice to both employees and employers, in bothand small municipalities must comply with all otherunionized and non-unionized contexts. She can be reached at requirements by May 1, 2022.(204) 934-2515, mdlb@tdslaw.com or tdslaw.com/mdlbFall 2019 HRmatters 21'